According to a recent report, Mercedes's simulations suggest the team was able to find half a second in performance.
At the time of posting this article, all F1 teams except for the reigning World Champions from Red Bull have already unveiled their 2024 challengers.
Experts are already analyzing the first photos and videos that are available to the public, either from launches or from shakedowns.
Mercedes went for 'revolution' rather than 'evolution'!💡 🟡Completely different sidepods inlets, even vs their mid-season update 🟣Much more inclined upper wishbone 🔴Different nose-wing attachment point ⚪️Wing looks very elaborate Will they make this concept work?🤔
As promised by the team principal Toto Wolff, Mercedes completely redesigned their previous car. The team might be categorized as the most innovative of all going into 2024.
However, what is crucial is not the level of innovation or number of changed components but the real performance gained in direct comparison to rival teams.
The uppermost flap of the W15’s front wing is connected to the nose cone by just a single carbon wire. Detached wing elements were banned for 2022. This seems to be an attempt at recreating pre-2022 front wings. The single carbon wire makes the front wing *techincally* legal.
According to the report from it.motorsport.com, Mercedes's simulations suggest the team could gain around half a second per lap in between seasons 2023 and 2024.
Half a second is progress that the majority of teams would hope to achieve. Would a half-second faster car be enough to win the championship in 2023? Most probably.
Will it be enough to win the championship in 2024? That's not clear. If Red Bull, for example, gained 0.5 seconds, Mercedes still wouldn't be able to compete with the Austrian team, which went into the winter break with a pace disadvantage.
As of now, the majority of teams are quite careful with their claims as they have learned from the last couple of years that they might turn out to be very wrong.
A good example is Mercedes from ahead of the season 2022 or Ferrari ahead of both 2022 and 2023 when they both suggested they had a title-contending cars.
Ultimately, we know Red Bull has dominated the last two seasons. So, while all teams indicate satisfaction with their progress, they hope to speak rather with their performances on track.
