Mercedes unveiled the 2024 F1 season challenger, W15, last week in the backdrop of a major driver lineup shakedown. Lewis Hamilton owned the off-season limelight after he announced his move to Ferrari for the 2025 F1 season, thus making the upcoming one his last with the Silver Arrows.
Regardless, at the W15 launch event, Mercedes drivers and team principal Toto Wolff seemed to be a big, happy family. However, as the Silver Arrows took the challenger down for the shakedown, snippets on its front wing design caught the F1 analyst’s attention. Apparently, the team went overboard with flap design, which could have landed them in trouble with F1A.
Mercedes Escape FIA Scrutiny After Controversial Front Wing Design!
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team took a big gamble with its 2024 season F1 challenger, W15, in desperation to break through the shackles of struggle. After the car was taken down for the shakedown after the official launch event on February 14, the leaked images of the front wing design caught the eagled eye fans’ attention. Apparently, the Silver Arrows only attached a single thin wire to connect the flaps on the front wing. Notably, to pass FIA’s legal tests, there has to be an element connecting the flaps. However, the Silver Arrows found a loophole and used the thinnest possible wire to stay in accordance with the rules and also derive undue advantage from the Y250 vortex. The vortex exists in the inner side of the four front laps through which air goes through the bargeboards and the underbody.
However, amid concerns of FIA scrutiny, the latest reports from formu1a.uno suggests that Mercedes’ W15 has passed all legal checks after the shakedown. That includes the controversial front wing, which many thought wouldn’t sit well with the FIA authorities. Needless to say, the innovative front wing flap design could be a masterstroke by James Allison, considering how it performs on the track during the Bahrain race weekend. But overall, Mercedes is extremely confident with its new challenger design and aerodynamics. After dumping the Zeropod concept, the team seems much stronger and relieved at the same time. Currently, the teams, including the Brackley-based outfit, are assembled in Bahrain for the pre-season testing round. So far, the W15 has registered good lap times. However, a clearer picture would only be known at the first practice session later in the weekend.
Adrian Newey Impressed With W15’s Mysterious ‘Innovative’ Design!
In an interesting update, Red Bull aerodynamics genius Adrian Newey is pretty impressed with W15’s structural design. According to the BBC’s Andrew Benson, Newey apparently found a certain innovation of the W15′ interesting’ but refused to leave out specific details about the said component.
However, pundits believe it could be related to W15’s controversial front wing flap design. Despite concerns about the regulation breach, Mercedes’ new challenger passed FIA checks. It could be a masterstroke or a complete fail, depending on how the car comes together as a whole. All eyes are on the Bahrain Gran Prix set for later this weekend.
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