The German car company Mercedes hasn’t had an easy start to the 2024 racing season. Their W15 car has shown moments of being fast, but it’s been hard to keep up that speed consistently during races.
Drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have felt that the car is tricky to handle sometimes. Mercedes hasn’t been able to figure out the best setup for the car to fully use its potential.
Mercedes hopes that some changes they’re making will improve the car’s performance. They plan to introduce new parts soon to help the car handle better.
James Allison, the technical director, talked about these changes in a video after the Chinese Grand Prix. He said, “We’ve got upgrade packages coming to the car but also components that we hope will rectify the underlying balance that is causing us difficulty.”
He also admitted that the recent race in China didn’t meet Mercedes’ high expectations. The car has been having trouble with the front tires, especially in slow corners. This makes it hard for the drivers to control the car and slows them down.
Allison explained, “Once you’ve got front tires that don’t want to go around the corner, that means the drivers have to wait an eon to get on the power on the exit of the corner, you hemorrhage lap time there.”
He added that the challenge for Mercedes in the upcoming races is to improve both the car’s setup and the parts they put on it.
Looking ahead to the race in Miami, Allison mentioned that they need to change their approach to setting up the car during the weekend. He said they learned from the China race that it’s better to start with a more ambitious setup and then adjust it if needed.
He said, “Hopefully we’ll land a car in a better place, that the upgrades that we’re going to bring to Miami serve us well in a grid that in qualifying at least is really close.”
