Mercedes is the ninth and penultimate team to reveal its 2024 Formula 1 car, with the W15 set loose at Silverstone on Wednesday.
Following on from McLaren’s early-morning launch of the MCL38, Mercedes are the latest team to show off the car with which they’ll race in 2024 as the Brackley-based squad revealed the W15.
Both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were on hand to introduce the new car, with both getting the chance to shake down the W15 as Mercedes carries out a filming day shakedown at Silverstone.
Mercedes W15 to be Lewis Hamilton’s last Mercedes
Having won six driver’s championships with Mercedes since joining the team at the end of 2012, the most successful driver/team partnership in F1 history will end with the W15 as Hamilton moves to Ferrari for 2025.
But, with Mercedes plumping for a revolutionary design and parting ways with the concept used for the 2022 and ’23 cars, a Mercedes resurgence this year might yet result in a record-breaking eighth world title for Hamilton.
With the team having identified a new technical direction to take with W15 as James Allison returned to the position of technical director in place of Mike Elliott, Allison explained what changes the W15 has been put through.
“The design of any car is an iterative process. And a long one at that,” he said.
“It stretches back to last year. A new car enables the team to make bigger alterations that are not possible during the season. These are decisions that are taken during the preceding summer.”
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The car features a completely new chassis and gearbox casing, with a primary focus being on improving the rear axle instability that plagued the W14.
“We have worked hard to ensure that both axles, but particularly the rear axle, retain better control of the tyre than on the W14,” Allison explained.
“There’s also been some housekeeping on areas in which we had room for improvement, including the DRS effect, and pit stop performance.”
A new floor design is also giving Allison grounds for hope that the team can make a significant step this season.
“With this current generation of cars, so much of the performance comes from how the floor interacts with the road,” he said.
“Whether or not a car is effective is down to how well that floor is permitted to behave aerodynamically.
“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. 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,” James concluded.
Toto added: “As the saying goes: when it stings, it sticks. I believe the previous two years were necessary for us to readjust, recalibrate and reinvent ourselves in certain areas. That root-and-branch approach is never easy. But we’ve made progress and look forward to taking the next step with the W15. It won’t be a linear path, but when we stumble, we will get back up and keep climbing.”
Mercedes opt for new livery look
Aside from the technical changes made with W15, the livery itself utilises both silver and black as the predominant colours.
Silver, which was last used as the primary colour on the W13, is meshed together effectively with the black that has become synonymous with the team in recent years.
“Performance was always at the forefront of our minds with the black livery last year,” Wolff explained of the livery.
“Weight is a crucial factor in this current generation of cars. We knew that, once we were in position to do so, we would bring back the Mercedes silver to accompany the black that has become a pillar of our team identity. The livery truly reflects who we are as a team with the distinctive colours of Ineos and Petronas providing important highlights.”
The nose section remains silver, with the Mercedes three-pointed star featuring on the engine cover, while the colours of Ineos and Petronas, red and green respectively, feature as splashes of colour across the W15.
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