CAR-MAGEDDON

Two weekends in Bahrain demonstrated Mercedes’ 2023 campaign was effectively over. Over the pre-season test and opening round it became clear that persevering with the concept initially set out in 2022’s W13 – ‘zeropods’ and all – was never going to match what Red Bull had established as class-leading. Thanks to the cost cap’s restrictions, Mercedes was stuck – set on a year-long misery path.

That was how team boss Toto Wolff and seven-time world champion driver Lewis Hamilton felt about 2023, given how they lamented Mercedes’ entrenched position as a non-winner.

Mercedes therefore heads into 2024 knowing it has much to gain through a fully realised car-concept change. There is none of the misplaced confidence that permeated the winter of 2022-23, born of George Russell’s Brazil victories. Merc can take inspiration from Red Bull’s steamrolling success with the downwash concept it finally joined at Monaco.

It also doesn’t have to maintain the ride height compromises it ended up with on the W14 – a car it tried to optimise aerodynamically for higher ride heights after the bouncing and porpoising issues which afflicted the early iteration of the W13.

There will be big interest in how it approaches suspension layout in 2024. Red Bull has established the performance value of a stable, benign platform; under the cost cap, Mercedes couldn’t simply copy this in-season because it would involve far-reaching change.

Hamilton also asked for the W15’s cockpit to be shifted backwards, having felt the W14’s compromised his feel for car movement. Mercedes also recognised its 2023 DRS effectiveness was held back by the initial zeropod car layout. It’s targeting different potential gains via enhanced pitstop kit and procedures, too.