Toto Wolff has openly acknowledged that Mercedes is grappling with a “fundamental” challenge concerning the W15 model, an issue they are currently unable to decipher.
In his assessment, Wolff pointed out that Mercedes is contending with a significant problem in the design of their 2024 F1 car, the W15, and at present, they are unable to fully comprehend its nature.
The disappointment for Mercedes continued at the second round of the season held in Saudi Arabia, where both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton could only manage sixth and ninth positions respectively.
Following the race, Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time world champion, expressed his frustration by indicating that Mercedes still needs to implement “big changes” to the W15. This car underwent substantial modifications during the winter break.
Hamilton’s discontent was palpable as he remarked that it felt “like I was in a different category”compared to their competitors. He particularly lamented the car’s inability to perform adequately through the high-speed corners of the Jeddah circuit.
“There is something which we don’t understand,” Wolff mentioned. “We are quick everywhere else pretty much.
“We know that we have a smaller rear wing, we’re compensating what we’re losing through the corners. But it’s just at high speed where we’re losing all the lap time.”I think that’s a biggie. There’s only so much you can tune here.
“Our simulations point us in a direction and this is the kind of set-up range that we then choose, where you put the right rear wing on.
“I think you’ll gain a few tenths or not if you get the set-up right or wrong, but there’s not a massive corridor of performance.
“It’s more a fundamental thing, that we believe that the speed should be there. We measure the downforce but we don’t find it in lap time.”
However, Wolff maintains his confidence in Mercedes’ ability to swiftly address their current predicament.
“It’s been two years that there is something we need to spot, and that’s the thing to unlock. We have just got to work,” he further stated.
“It’s not through lack of trying. We’ve pushed so hard and we’re going to give it a massive, massive go now in the next week, with more data to understand.
“We are going to come back to Melbourne strong. We are on a mission on this one. And I am 100% sure that we are going to unlock that performance gap.”
