F1 | Allison: “Mercedes ahead of Ferrari. Red Bull is distant”

Three days of testing, three days of data to analyze. For the teams, the work does not stop with the conclusion of the pre-season tests, because behind the scenes the teams have accumulated kilometers to examine and study to be ready next week for the first meeting of the season, again in Sakhir.

From the first day of testing, there was a certain optimism at Mercedes, not so much for the performance of the W15, but for its characteristics, which made it an easier car to drive than last season. With this single-seater, in fact, the Brackley team started from a blank sheet of paper, trying to also remedy those defects highlighted several times by the drivers in the last world championship, including excessive sensitivity of the car and sometimes unpredictable behaviour.

Precisely from this point of view, the feedback from George Russell and Lewis Hamilton seems positive, because according to the two Star bearers the W15 seems to have freed itself from that nervous character that had conditioned the season, making it rather fluctuating. In fact, in the design of this new single-seater, the comments of the drivers were also taken into consideration, in particular the seven-time world champion, who had often criticized some of the engineers' choices, in particular for the driving position and the poor balance of the engine. rear.

Overall, the latest car born in Brackley seems to have found greater load and stability at the rear, which could prove to be a useful element especially in the fastest corners: going back, in fact, the 2023 car showed strange behavior and, as as the season progressed, it proved to be more competitive in the slow sections to the detriment of the fast ones. “Now we are able to attack corners at medium and high speed without the rear starting. And we feel like we've made a really good step forward in terms of the consistency of the car,” Russell explained in this regard.

However, at Mercedes there are other aspects that have left us smiling, starting from the actual correlation of the data between what happens on the track and what is reproduced on the simulator, which opens up new avenues of development with the awareness that what is tested in the virtual then it can also be applied in reality. In fact, in the last two years the Brackley team has invested heavily in equipment, including a new CFD to keep up with the new generation single-seaters.

“One of the positive aspects of this car, in total contrast to last year's car, is that when we make a change the car responds in much the same way as the simulator, and this gives us great confidence that we can continue to make changes to the simulator with the knowledge that, once brought to the track, they will work. This is encouraging,” said James Allison at the end of the tests.

George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

“It was a very productive three days. We ran a full testing programme, with some setup changes that wouldn't be possible to make once the season started. So these items can give us direction as to which parts to bring for the first few races. From this point of view, it was a good session.”

Over the course of three days, Mercedes carried out various aerodynamic and mechanical tests. On Friday morning, the rakes were mounted to carry out aerodynamic measurements, as well as the “fillets” on the sides of the bottom to more precisely monitor the behavior of the flows from bend to bend. The most interesting change, however, was seen around the front suspension, where one of the elements was lowered compared to the first two days, in order to be able to accumulate data for the start of the world championship.

An extremely interesting solution, which had been glimpsed in the renderings released at the presentation, but which was only really observed in action today: the Mercedes technicians must have carefully evaluated it from an aerodynamic and mechanical point of view, with advantages which, from their point of view , they overcome the weight increase necessary to have two attachment points. This allows you to have two different adjustments depending on your needs: “We changed the level of anti-dive on the suspension, it's a type of change that you can't make during free practice. It is positive and useful to have done it today to collect data and have a comparison compared to yesterday,” added Allison.

“In the next few days there will be meetings to analyze the test data and understand which aspects are most needed, given that the race is in a few days. In the factory, however, the team is already working on production to produce new parts: the ones we had here were fine for testing, but it's not enough to cover an entire race weekend. There is still a lot to produce, assemble, paint and things like that, we still have the next few days.”

Mercedes W15 front suspension featuring two adjustments

Photo by: Uncredited

Establishing an order is always complex: according to Allison, the only certain element is that Red Bull is ahead of everyone, while behind Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin they play the role of chaser. However, the Stella technical director believes that the W15 is slightly more competitive in terms of pace, while work needs to be done on the single lap, an aspect that also often created problems last year.

“Twelve months ago we were in a much worse position! We are certainly not the reference car, but we did some good long runs with a good pace. There's a bit of work to be done on the single lap, but it's definitely a better car than last year,” said Allison.

“Red Bull is ahead, just look at today's race pace [terza giornata], it's quite clear. Behind there are several strong teams, Ferrari seems ok, we seem ok, Alonso did well today. In what order, I'm not sure. I think we are slightly better on the long runs, but a little behind Ferrari on the single lap. Much will depend on the work during this week before the race weekend.”