Mercedes says the accurate correlation it has seen between the wind tunnel and the track with its 2024 Formula 1 car marks a “stark contrast” to this time last season.
After enduring a first winless season since 2011 across the previous campaign, Mercedes has committed to a complete overhaul with its latest challenger, the W15.
The German marque had opted to retain the ‘zeropod’ solution at the beginning of last term but a problematic winter period saw it decide to abandon that radical innovation.
Mercedes documented at the launch that its main ambition was to construct a more benign car that eliminated the “spiteful” rear-end tendencies of its capricious W14 car.
Having sustained a smoother pre-season test this time around, Technical Director James Allison is pleased with the understanding it has of its revised package.
“Very productive. We had a very full test programme. We’re wanting to work through a bunch of setup changes that are really not possible once the season started,” he said.
“And so to get those items done now, to give us some direction for the hardware that we take into the opening series of races. It’s been a good test from that point of view.”
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell assessed that the W15 is “nicer to drive” than its recalcitrant predecessor, despite admitting that Red Bull remains out of reach.
Allison has echoed those comments and believes Mercedes is now in a better position to focus on adding performance rather than fixating on problem-solving a troubled car.
“We were in a world of pain this time last year and while we’re certainly not the leading car right now, we at least have an honest well-behaved thing that can put in decent long-run pace and I think we’ve got a bit more work to do on the single laps, but it’s definitely a much better-born car than the year before,” he addressed.
Mercedes’ forlorn attempt to optimise a slim sidepod structure with the latest ground effect rules was foiled by being unable to replicate positive simulations on the track.
However, Allison asserts that the Brackley-based squad has overcome such complications and the W15 has behaved in testing how the team anticipated it would.
“One of the nice things about the car and quite a sharp contrast to the year before where we can change a thing and the car responds and it responds pretty much like the sims say it should respond and that gives us a lot of confidence that you can then make changes in the factory, in the virtual world, bring them here and expect them to work,” he added.
“So yeah, that’s an encouraging thing for us.”
It was observed on the last day that Mercedes had adopted a modified configuration on its front suspension, which Allison detailed as being a tailored test item.
“I think specifically, you guys will have seen that we were changing the anti-dive level on the front suspension,” Allison explained when he was questioned on the topic.
“And that’s exactly the sort of change that you really can’t do between runs in free practice sessions.
“So, yeah, useful to get that done and get a bunch of runs on it today compared to yesterday and make our decisions.”
Like Mercedes, Ferrari had pursued a revamped car for 2024 amid an emphasis on rectifying the race pace struggles that hampered its prospects during last season.
But while Allison admits his former team looks strong over a single lap, he suspects that Mercedes retains a slight advantage over the Italian marque in race conditions.
Asked where he thinks Mercedes stacks up at this stage, Allison said: “I think this is quite hard… Red Bull are in front. If you look at their race run from today, it’s quite fierce.
“But there’s a few people in the chasing pack who are reasonably strong. Ferrari look okay, I think we look okay. Fernando [Alonso, Aston Martin] just did a pretty fair run today. So I’d say that would be my guess of the three chasers, but precisely in what order, not sure.
“I think maybe we looked teeny bit better in the long run, but a bit behind the Ferrari in the single lap stuff, so I think a lot will depend on who has a good week between now and then.”
