F1 | Mercedes: the first updates to take care of the W15 in Miami

Even the Chinese Grand Prix didn't go exactly the way Mercedes had hoped, which could only save second place in the sprint race thanks to Lewis Hamilton. However, beyond the podium obtained in Saturday's race, which also arrived thanks to a wet qualifying and various race circumstances, thanks to which the talent of the Briton emerged and he was then able to realize a great opportunity.

However, in the dry qualifying on Saturday and in the Grand Prix on Sunday, the weak points of the W15 emerged, a car that at the start of this world championship managed to do well only once, in Bahrain, at least before the overheating problems took over.

The setup changes between the end of the sprint race and the start of qualifying did not yield the desired results, particularly with Lewis Hamilton, but it is clear that, beyond the set-up element, Mercedes would not have been able to go far. Furthermore, considering that Fernando Alonso finished the race behind George Russell only due to the lack of a second hard that would allow him to get to the end when the Safety Car came out, it is not a gamble to underline how the Brackley team competed with Aston Martin for the role of fifth force of the weekend.

A bitter pill to swallow, in particular because, in reality, on the eve of Mercedes itself thought that Shanghai could be a “friendly” track to the W15, given that the layout has fewer fast sections and more slow corners. Instead, on a difficult asphalt and in a weekend in which not everything worked in terms of finding the setup, in the end Mercedes paid the price, returning home with a sixth place which is probably worth even more than what it showed on the track on Sunday.

It is now known that the W15 is not a car born under a “lucky star”, so behind the scenes the engineers are working on the first packages of technical innovations with which to try to reverse the fortunes of a car from which much was expected. more. Team Principal Toto Wolff himself admitted that the performance was not “good enough” and, already after Australia, he had made no secret that he was starting to lose hope.

“I think considering the overall position of the cars, drivers and team, it's not positive. Overall, we finished in sixth and ninth position, but the pace was missing. So we have to dig deep.”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“It's not a good car. I think we can understand what mistakes we made on the car. I think the car is difficult to set up and drive, and that's why, in my opinion, these oscillations occur in terms of performance”.

Mercedes has made few changes to its car since the beginning of the year, also because as admitted by technical director James Allison, correlation problems between the track and the simulator have slowed down various aspects of the evolutionary process. However, the first substantial news should arrive in the next round in Miami, which for Wolff should represent a step forward.

“We have something in store for Miami that seems like a good step forward. Let's see where it takes us,” added the Team Principal. However, it should be underlined that McLaren will also bring some innovations to the United States, not to mention that Ferrari could also anticipate something with respect to Imola, the stage chosen to debut the substantial package of technical innovations.

George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-24

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

As Wolff admitted in China, the progress made in high-speed cornering has found some small (but faint) confirmation in Japan. However, according to the Team Principal, this would have been at the expense of other strengths.

“I think we have absolutely achieved this objective, at high speeds we were super competitive, even in Suzuka in the first sector. The drivers spoke of it as the best car of the last two and a half years. Then, however, we were not up to par in the low speed zones”.

“We gained something in the high speeds, but we lost something in the low speeds. The equation comes back to zero, so it's something we need to improve. We know what we changed to solve the problem in the high speed areas and we know what the performance was of the car to be fast at low speeds”.