Mercedes: 2024 development held back by fluctuations in F1 form

mercedes Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin believes the team’s fluctuating form in the 2024 Formula 1 season was a result of it lagging behind in development while trying to recover from a difficult start.

The Brackley-based squad chose an entirely new approach with their W15 concept, opting for a more traditional sidepod solution and pushrod-activated rear suspension assembly.

The team took time to fully consider the merits of its new car before it could advance concepts on it, allowing Shovlin to pit it against other teams in the season’s development cycle.

He says Mercedes’ upgrades were generally out of sync with its top-four rivals, allowing it to remain more competitive for a few rounds before falling behind in the pecking order after other teams introduced new parts. Was.

“I think that’s the biggest evolution. And if you look at when we were bringing out our updates compared to our main competitors, we were often bringing out our bigger packages a few races later,” Shovlin explained.

“But if we had brought it earlier, it would have been a smaller package. So the fact is that on average, over a season, when we give an update we are not fast enough, we had some races where we were competitive, the teams She was trying to defeat them, bring them along with her and they moved back forward.

“It’s definitely the main mechanism. I think the start of the season was bad. The car was not well balanced, not working on different tracks.

“We stayed on top of those issues for the first seven or so races. And then I think we’ve been in a race of normal development the rest of the year.”

Shovlin said one of the team’s goals for its 2025 car was to reduce the amount of tire overheating at the rear axle, as he felt this was an area where Mercedes fell short of its front-running rivals.

Although the W15 was able to get its tires up to temperature more easily than others in cold conditions, it caused thermal degradation earlier on hot circuits.

He also noted that Mercedes’ struggle to optimize its car around a certain ride height was also part of his considerations, as the W15 struggled on bumpier circuits.

“Rear overheating, that’s an area where I don’t think we’re as good mclarenred bull or ferrariAnd this has probably been most affected recently at tracks like Singapore,” said Shovlin.

“So we’re looking at what we can do to get the temperature out of the rear tires – and any work in that area is two-pronged: one, can we put less temperature in? And two, can we get more temperature out.” Are ?

“But that’s obviously an area where, on Sunday, there was a big gap to us in those few races. And certainly an area of ​​focus for next year.

“It’s very fair to say that on those (rough) tracks we often have trouble. You can analyze how high people are racing, and I don’t think we’re any different from anyone else, but the ride One area we are focusing on is these regulations.

“In general, we have made progress. But the whole purpose of development in Formula 1 is to fix problems, and can you fix them quicker than your competitors. And that’s how you get to the forefront.”