The 2024 season could be divided into two sections for Mercedes. First, the beginning of the season, which was a carryover of the last two campaigns. During this time, the team management was clueless about what was going wrong. Further, the technical team was unable to figure out the issues with the W15. Despite constant efforts, the F1 car appeared sluggish, lacking control and responsiveness.
The second part started right after the Miami GP. Silver Arrows were filled with sorrow over consistent failure and desperately needed change. Consequently, the technical crew led by James Allison started working day and night. The results were visible on the track as Mercedes started to look more competitive. The team has now outlined its strategy for the remainder of the 2024 season.
Mercedes Improves The FAILED Upgrade To Leap Forward In The Remainder Of 2024 Season
The Mercedes team finally made a solid comeback after winning three races in the last four outings. This is the first time a team has been able to outplay Red Bul consistently since teh introduction of ground effect. The Brackley-based outfit reaped the results of its hard work during the Austrian GP, beating RBR in its backyard. Later, Lewis Hamilton ended the drought of victories in Silverstone GP by clinching a clinical win. In the Belgium GP, the Mercedes duo finished 1-2 after ages. However, George Russell had a sad ending as he was disqualified due to his lightweight car. Meanwhile, the disqualification crowned Hamilton as the winner. Moreover, the Belgian GP upgrade by the James Allison crew was scrutinized by the drivers. The W15 felt weird during the free practice with the new floor and updated components.
Therefore, the upgrades were scrapped, and the team continued with the Silverstone configuration. However, the team has not given up on that update, and they are considering bringing it back to Zandvoort. In a recent update, Andrew Shovlin explained that Mercedes encountered several issues during the Belgian Grand Prix, which they attribute primarily to the car’s setup rather than the updates themselves. The new setup led to excessive bouncing in fast corners, undermining the drivers’ confidence. Additionally, the car struggled with stability when entering corners, making late braking and maintaining speed through turns challenging.
Given these difficulties, Mercedes chose to revert to the previous W15 specification used at Silverstone, where they had achieved a successful result. Shovlin noted that both Spa and Silverstone share similar corner speeds, deciding to return to a proven setup the right one. Despite the setbacks at Spa, Mercedes remains optimistic about their updates. The team has been investigating the issues and believes they have identified the root causes. Shovlin expressed confidence that the team could effectively reintroduce the Spa update at Zandvoort.
What Does The Teams Do During The Summer Break?
During a summer break, the F1 factories are not operational. This is an important break mentioned in Article 24.1 of the 2024 FIA F1 sporting regulations. In simple terms, the team can not carry out any work to improve the performance of their car.
That means any design, research, wind tunnel time, or even making a phone call or sending an email about the car’s performance is prohibited. The time is used to repair and paint the F1 car’s components, as the teams lack time during the rest of the season.