Mercedes AMG F1 W15 driver George Russell. March 22, 2024. The Australian Grand Prix, the third round of the Formula 1 World Championship, took place at Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia. This was a practice day for the teams.
Toto Wolff, the Team Principal of Mercedes, expressed his frustration with the team’s inability to unlock the full potential of their 2024 Formula 1 car. Since the reintroduction of ground effect aerodynamics in 2022, Mercedes has struggled, going from winning eight consecutive Constructors’ titles to only one victory in the past two seasons. Despite positive signs during testing, Mercedes has had a disappointing start to the current campaign, earning only 26 points in two races.
Wolff admitted two weeks ago in Saudi Arabia that Mercedes was facing a fundamental issue with the correlation between their expectations for high-speed cornering and the performance of their car. In an attempt to address this issue, the team decided to revert to the original specifications of their car’s floor for practice in Australia. However, this change did not yield the desired results, and Lewis Hamilton found himself in 18th place during the practice session. Hamilton expressed his dissatisfaction over the team radio, and Wolff revealed that their extensive setup trial did not go as planned.
After the second practice session, Wolff spoke to Sky F1 and acknowledged that while they were able to conduct the experiment they had planned, they were still unable to unlock the car’s full performance. He described the setup changes made on Hamilton’s car as a “massive backfire.”
George Russell, the other Mercedes driver, continued to be the team’s top performer in the early stages of the 2024 season. However, he was still 0.674 seconds behind the fastest lap time, finishing in sixth place. Despite the team’s ongoing struggles with the new regulations, Wolff emphasized that they would not give up and remain determined to return to the front of the grid.
Wolff admitted his frustration, stating that it would be dishonest to say otherwise. He acknowledged the team’s efforts in exploring different directions but expressed disappointment in their inability to find the breakthrough they were seeking. However, he remained optimistic, stating that they had previously seen strong performance from their car and believed they had the necessary resources to overcome the challenges posed by the current regulations.