Mercedes AMG F1 W15 faced a challenging weekend at the Australian Grand Prix, providing valuable insights into the issues with their 2024 Formula 1 car. The team encountered difficulties when Lewis Hamilton suffered an engine failure and George Russell crashed on the last lap. Despite this, Mercedes showed promising performance in qualifying, with Hamilton exiting in Q2 and Russell securing seventh place, just eight tenths behind pole position. Hamilton experimented with different setups during practice, which did not yield the desired results. However, he was pleased with the drivability of his W15 car during the third practice session. Mercedes Technical Director James Allison noted a correlation between the team’s pace and track temperature, suggesting that their competitiveness decreases when the track is hot. This pattern was observed in both qualifying and the race, with the team performing better in cooler conditions. Although no significant changes were made between FP3 and qualifying in Melbourne, the team intends to address these challenges in the future.
Mercedes was pleased with their achievement in creating a docile car that eliminated the rear instability that defined its problematic predecessor. However, Allison acknowledges that the inconsistent oscillations they faced in the first three races indicate the need to expand the operating range of the W15.
“This is more clearly defined in terms of duration,” he added. “If you have a clear goal in mind and have accurately identified the reasons behind our fluctuating competitiveness, you can develop a weekend program dedicated to adjusting the temperature and balance of the car from front to back, using conventional setup tools.”
“This work can be done in the factory and through simulations. However, if you reach a point where you have exhausted the configuration options and still need to go further, it becomes more challenging. This may be due to underlying characteristics in the aerodynamic map or suspension that exacerbate the problem. To completely resolve it, it would be necessary to modify these underlying characteristics.”
“The approach can be quick and simple or more complex and involved.”
