Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain drove the Mercedes AMG F1 W15 car in the Formula 1 World Championship, Round 4, Japanese Grand Prix, held in Suzuka, Japan on April 7, 2024.
According to Toto Wolff, the team boss of Mercedes, the 2024 Formula 1 car made progress despite a difficult start at the Japanese Grand Prix. The team had to switch Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to Hard tyres after a collision between Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo caused a red flag. However, they couldn’t keep up with their competitors and had to make an additional pit stop to finish the race on the faster but less durable Medium compound. In the end, Russell managed to overtake Oscar Piastri of McLaren for seventh place, while Hamilton finished in ninth.
Wolff believes that Mercedes was more competitive than their final positions suggest, considering the time lost during the early stages of the race. He acknowledged the disappointing qualifying and race results of seventh and ninth place respectively, but emphasized the progress made in terms of car performance and understanding. He mentioned that Suzuka was a challenging track for Mercedes last year, but this time they were closer to the front runners in qualifying. Despite a difficult first stint, the team showed competitiveness in the second and third stints of the race. Wolff believes that if they had followed the same strategy as their competitors, the results would have been different. He concluded by stating that although the current results are not satisfactory, there is room for improvement in future races.
Wolff recently disclosed that Hamilton’s difficulties in Australia two weeks ago were a result of a change in track temperature between practice and qualifying. However, despite the temperature rising to 40 degrees during the race, Wolff denied that this increase was the cause of Mercedes’ struggles in the first stint at Suzuka. He explained that there was only a three-degree difference in track temperature between the first and second stint, and that the team’s poor performance was more due to trying to extend their pit stop and losing time with the open gates.
Currently, Mercedes is in fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship, trailing McLaren by 35 points and Ferrari by a significant 86 points. However, Wolff remains optimistic and points to McLaren’s turnaround last season as evidence that Mercedes can also improve. He mentioned that Ferrari and McLaren both experienced fluctuations in performance, with Ferrari initially struggling but eventually becoming the second strongest team, and McLaren going from being a backmarker to a regular podium contender. Wolff believes that similar swings in performance can still occur, and while Mercedes may not be able to challenge Ferrari and McLaren at the moment, they have a realistic goal of doing so in the future.