F1 | It's the best Mercedes of 2024, but that's why caution is needed

A faint ray of light seems to have pierced the cloudy sky above Suzuka, illuminating the Mercedes garage. The Brackley team concluded the first day on track at the Japanese Grand Prix with a satisfaction that, up to this point in the season, was still unknown.

Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell immediately found themselves at ease with the set-up and balance of their respective W15s right from the first free practice session, which later proved to be the only reliable one due to the rain which made the second session useless.

“Free Practice 1 was a great session for us. It was really great,” Lewis Hamilton said with some enthusiasm at the end of the day. “It was the best session of the season for us, at least so far.”

“I've never felt the W15 as good as today, so for now it's really positive. I'm really happy, because Suzuka is a track that every driver loves to race on. In the last 2 years we've had cars that are very difficult to drive and on which to find an optimal balance”.
“Given the difficulties we had in the first races of the season, we did a great job over the last week and here it seems that the car is in a better position. Today, for example, I didn't make a single change, we will stay on this setup for tomorrow too.”

George Russell followed Hamilton's thoughts almost perfectly. But, compared to the 7-time world champion, the former Williams driver has placed a question mark on tomorrow's day.

The W15s gave good responses in just one free practice session, while other teams worked on various innovations – including Red Bull Racing and Aston Martin, the two teams that brought the most significant evolutionary packages this weekend – without trying the performance but only data correlation and comparison with the old package that was used in the first three races of 2024.

This is why Russell was happy, but also very cautious. The W15 has so far proven to be a less predictable car than Brackley would have liked and the opponents, especially those who have shared the three victories of the season so far, have not yet shown their maximum potential.

“In Free Practice 1 we performed better than we expected. So it was a pleasant surprise. I felt the car was very nice to drive in the dry. Both Lewis and I were very happy with the balance.”

“We do better when it's slightly colder, but we've done a lot of testing to make the W15 more consistent in variable conditions. So we'll see if things are better tomorrow,” concluded Russell.