Mercedes's Technical Director Discusses Key Areas Of Change On W15

Wednesday, 14 February 2024 at 13:00

Mercedes's Technical director, James Allison, talked over some major areas that his team worked on ahead of the 2024 season.

Mercedes just launched its 2024 challenger - the W15. Besides the obvious change in livery (which positively surprised many fans), the team made some crucial changes to the car itself.

One of the great goals of the German team was to work on the predictability of the car, as that was one of the common complaints from their drivers in 2023. As quoted in the official press release, James Allison said:

"A big focus has been on improving the previous car’s unpredictable rear axle. We have worked hard to ensure that both axles, but particularly the rear axle, retain better control of the tire than on the W14."

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The team principal of Mercedes, Toto Wolff, asserted confidence in his drivers behind the wheel, which is one of the most important steps towards improving lap times. If the W15 manages to address this issue, it could give a huge boost to the team.

However, that wasn't the only change; the team based in Brackley wanted to improve the DRS effect for easier overtakes and also worked on the pitstop times.

"There’s also been some housekeeping on areas in which we had room for improvement, including the DRS effect, and pit stop performance."

Mercedes is a team that wants to compete for the title, but it lagged behind too much when it came to pitstop times during the last couple of seasons.

If Silver Arrows want to bring the challenge to Red Bull, the team must improve its pitstop game. Allison continued, suggesting he felt optimistic about his team's progress.

"We feel like we have had a good winter, but F1 is a relative game and only time will tell how big a step we’ve made."

As McLaren showed during the most recent season, the launch car isn't all that matters. Every single team can make substantial jumps forward in performance during the season, and Allison is excited to see how the season unfolds.

"We’re focused on getting the most from the car we launch, but we are excited by the development race that will follow as the regulations are still young and opportunities abound."