Everything arrived ready at the last moment: the fire-up with the first start-up was done only yesterday evening, just in time to transfer the car to Silverstone, where Mercedes, with its now ceremonial ritual, shows us the W15 . The black arrow is a single-seater that breaks with the two previous models also from a graphic point of view, given that the upper part has returned to being silver.
The Star must demonstrate that it has finally been able to interpret the ground effect regulations with a car that is competitive, after two completely wrong cars: W13 and W14 will remain a sort of “black hole” in the history of a team that previously had plundered victories and world championships in a hitherto unrepeatable historical sequence.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, George Russell, Mercedes, Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO, Mercedes-AMG
Photo by: Mercedes AMG
A clean break with the past
At a technical level, James Allison was called back to the command deck and he returned to leading the group of engineers that had previously given him so much satisfaction. The W15 represents a clear break with the recent past: the ambition is to return to winning GPs and bring the Red Bull RB20 and Max Verstappen closer. An objective that Ferrari, McLaren and Aston Martin also set themselves: last year Mercedes took second place in the Constructors' championship and Toto Wolff wants to start from there, even if a lot has changed after Lewis Hamilton's announcement to abandon Brackley at the end of the championship.
Lewis satisfied: cockpit further back
It is curious to note that Mercedes “accepted” Hamilton's repeated complaints about the cockpit being too overhanging at the front when the Englishman made it official that he would be leaving. Looking at the first images, it is clear that the driver has been moved back to redistribute the weight according to a more classic canon, but there are those who even talk about ten centimeters, a sign that the W15 no longer has any degree of kinship with the single-seater of last year.
Allison and his engineers revised the project starting from a blank sheet of paper, trying to correct, as the Ferrari drivers say they also did, the errors of the previous two seasons. The muzzle is set very far back and hollowed out at the bottom, with the nose resting on the second element which seems to be an integral part of the muzzle. The wing has a main profile with the central spoon that protrudes a lot when viewed from the side: did the Mercedes technicians interpret the approach to the frontal crash differently?
Comparison of the driving positions of the 2023 Mercedes W14 and the 2024 Mercedes W15
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
New body, the front push remains with a new arm
The body is totally new, although at the front there has been an adjustment to the push rod front suspension attachments with some arms that had already been raised last year with a “false” solution. At the front, a concept that had already given better results in 2023 has been rationalised, with the transition from multilink arms to the return of the triangles which we also find here. But there is an unprecedented oddity: the appearance of a second arm under the inclined rear one of the upper triangle. There's no point in an arm creating a lockout – it's possible it's a trim option. Paddy Lowe had thought of it years ago on a Williams but the FIA rejected the idea of it reappearing…
30 mm shorter derailleur
The revision, therefore, mainly concerned the rear axle: the gearbox was shortened by 30 mm and the transmission box was completely redesigned because Mercedes adopts a push rod scheme which moves the internal mechanisms of the suspension upwards, freeing the flows destined for the Venturi channels. And this is considered the highlight of the change because it should provide aerodynamic advantages to be associated with suspension operation that is more suited to the usage window of the Pirelli tyres.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W15
Photo by: Mercedes AMG
Wider tank and sandwich radiators
The engine and gearbox have been moved back (in Maranello they made the same reasoning!), but the area that seems most compressed is that of the chassis behind the driver's shoulders. If on the SF-24 they lengthened the tank area, making the body slimmer, on the W15 they would have been forced to widen the two protrusions that contain the fuel and which sandwich the radiators. There is no doubt that the Mercedes layout has been rationalized and from the repositioning of the main elements it is easy to understand how the aerodynamic approach has also changed with a very different center of pressure.
Mercedes AMG F1 W10, technical detail of the tank which will be wider and narrower on the W15
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
The mouth is triangular with an arched tray
The belly shows a radiator mouth that is triangular so the now inevitable lower tray becomes arched, marking something different compared to all the others: the sensation is that a greater flow of incoming air has been favored than outgoing. The undercut, however, has been widened and with the lower anti-intrusion cone flush with the bottom, the passage of air towards the floor has certainly increased, with a different concept that brings the flow to the lower part of the side which has a refined wing shape.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W15
Photo by: Mercedes AMG
Slide belly with a side fin
The W15 has adopted a side that slides towards the rear with an external edge that hints at a minimal excavation only towards the bottom: a simple and clean solution was chosen, just as a channel can be observed in the lower part of the belly: like all , Mercedes has also raised the radiators slightly, in order to facilitate air circulation above the pavement. But what strikes at the entrance edge of the bottom is the Venturi channel closest to the body (the one that blows into the diffuser) which seems to be at the height limit of the rules, while the others are lower. The flow diverters that divide the channels also protrude from the channels and are taller.
The airbox maintains the identity of the company with the two ears on the sides of the dynamic intake for the engine: the bonnet is tapered into a small fin at the top, while at the root there is a bazooka of a new, less flashy design, designed to improve the efficiency of the beam wing.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W15
Photo by: Mercedes AMG
Rear wing with more efficient DRS
In 2023, Mercedes did not shine in top speed and suffered with open DRS: Allison's staff worked a lot in this direction to offer Lewis Hamilton and George Russell a car capable of overtaking when braking.
The rear wing is new, indicative of this change: the W14 was forced to use profiles that were often heavier than the others to have the necessary load on the rear axle. The new configuration, however, should ensure a clear reversal of the trend. The car was shown with a rather exasperated spoon and a very worked flap resulting from very careful tunnel research.
The simulator data suggests a performance increase of over half a second, which would be in line with the other best ones, but the doubt is how much the RB20, the undisputed reference of ground effect F1, is capable of growing…
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