At the Miami GP, Mercedes brought the first half of their big upgrade package. Their hope was to fix the fundamental balance and handling issues they had in the first part of this season.
Imola will see Mercedes bring the second half of the package. Optimistic that these upgrades will continue to make headway.
Focusing on stability and handling when asked if the upgrades had been effective in Miami, trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin said, “It all looks like it is delivering the performance that we were hoping for.”
Shovlin acknowledged that it’s harder to see the impact of the upgrades because most teams have brought impressive packages. Especially with teams like McLaren taking such huge strides, being able to challenge Red Bull.
Recognising that small steps need to be taken, Shovlin said:
“We are not expecting we are going to go to Monaco and suddenly be looking extremely quick. But what you can find is that the subtle differences in those tracks can expose those weaknesses a little bit less.”
Mercedes have been on the back foot since 2022
In 2022, they sported the ‘zero-pods’ design, which removed the traditional sidepods. However, they struggled with porpoising and the design didn’t seem to pay off.
The back half of the season saw them catching Ferrari in the constructors.
George Russell was even able to take his maiden victory. Although, Ferrari’s failures are as much to blame as Mercedes’ success.
In 2023, they brought the side pods back. Yet the struggles continued, now with the added trouble of Aston Martin and Mclaren catching up. With such a close front field, the struggles of the Mercedes became more and more detrimental.
Luckily, they fought off Aston and McLaren and even Ferrari Finishing second in the constructors.
Consistency was their key to 2023.
Unfortunately, the front of the field is now incredibly close, with both McLaren and Aston Martin cementing themselves as front running teams. Mercedes find themselves as the 4th or 5th fastest team most weekends.
More worryingly, there is a lack of understanding as to why.
A big problem that Toto Wolff identified early this season was the simulator data. Specifically, the sim data wasn’t matching how the car was behaving on track. The car has also been inconsistent.
From day to day the car would change from being ‘the best car’ Hamilton had driven since 2021, to the ‘worst car’ that was completely undrivable.
The purpose and aim behind these upgrades is to help open the operating window of the W15 easing the drivability.
Something we saw through Lewis Hamilton’s race pace and opinions of the car after the Miami GP.
Hamilton praised finally having the ability to “have some good battles with the other cars.” Therefore, it seems as though the team development is going in the right direction.
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