ABOUT MERCEDES W15

With the nearing of the season to kickstart off the f1 world championship, all the teams had started unveiling their car design for this season. The excitement to see the car’s new look, the upgrade done on its performance had it’s fellow F1 fans making new assumption and theories. Nothing new but the cameras are more focused on the top teams like Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari etc.…

Mercedes which is one such team which had absolute dominance over the F1 with its car performance as well as the 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton as the team’s driver.

With a very disappointing performance shown by the Mercedes team in the past two years, more piqued interest is shown to see whether the Mercedes has got it finally right. With number of complaints on the car’s performance was being filled by both the team car drivers Hamilton and George. The W15 with black silver body is an absolute beauty, but the question is will it be the teams savior or the mistake.

The W15 with black silver body is an absolute beauty, but the question is will it be the teams savior or the mistake.

Table of Contents

WHAT IS W15?

The Mercedes W15 also known as the Mercedes-AMG F1 W15 E Performance is formula one racing car designed and built by the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team to compete in the 2024 formula One championship. Over 5000mm overall length, 200mm width, 970mm height, 798kg overall weight the F1W15 has been unveiled to the world of racing.

“This is a complete relaunch of car; it is very different.”- Toto Wolff

THE MAIN FOCUS WHILE BUILDING MERCEDES W15

Considering the learnings from the previous two seasons, bigger alterations are made in the new car which includes new chassis and gear box casing. Aerodynamically as ever, the focus has been on efficiency, the endless quest for finding more downforce with less drag and delivering it to the track in a manner that complements the function of the suspension and tyres.

The British designer and engineer of the Mercedes team James Allison said: “With this current generation of cars, so much of the performance comes from how the floor interacts with the road. Whether or not a car is effective is down to how well that floor is permitted to behave aerodynamically”.

The W14 had some unpredictable issues with the rear axle to retain better control on the tyre which was the big focus for the team to tackle in W15. The rear end technical changes made on W15 will eventually have its effect on the drivers Lewis and Hamilton.

The spottable differences in the W15 the totally reconfigured sidepod shape of the car and the pushrod for rear suspension. The changes also include the setting of the front wing and importance given to the flooring. The housekeeping areas which also has room for improvement on its DRS effect, and the pit stop performance.

THE TECHNICAL ANALYSIS OF MERCEDES W15

Technical specification that is mainly outlined in W15 according to Mercedes:

The structure of the chassis is moulded in carbon fibre and honeycomb composite structure. The bodywork which includes engine cover, sidepods, floor, nose, front wing, and rear wing are of carbon fibre composite.
The cockpit is moved back by 10cm than its predecessor, Cockpit survival cell incorporating impact-resistant construction and penetration panels, front impact structure, prescribed side impact structures, integrated rear impact structure, front and rear roll structures, titanium driver protection structure (halo).

“We put a lot of attention on improving the rear axle of the previous car, which was a bit unpredictable. We worked on this to try and create a car that is easier for the drivers: at the beginning of a corner, when you brake hard and you roll into a corner, the rear axle has to be solid. And then, as you approach the apex, the car has to feel progressively more agile and eager to turn. We tried to achieve exactly this effect with the W15” – James Allision.

With change from pull rod to push rod it matches with other team cars design such as Red Bull, Ferrari. We get to see increased anti-squat.
There are also aggressive undercuts seen it the sidepods of the car which should be able to increase the air flow through. They have continued the previous pushrod suspension which increases the level of anti-dive (change the amount of load going through the springs and as a result, the pitch of the vehicle).
The W14 has its nose connected to the main plane of the front wing but now the W15 contains a short nose connected to a second element.
The advantage of a push-rod at the rear end lies in the greater aerodynamic neatness that is make the springs and dampers easier to access as they’re mounted higher up in the car, but other components might be harder to access as a result. Push-rod is also mounted higher on the car, increasing the car’s centre of gravity.
The Mercedes team also has made improvement with the DRS effect, which is done to ensure that we have decrease in aerodynamic drag while increasing the straight- line peed of the car.

The W15 for the 2024 Formula One world championship has more meaning than any of its predecessor as this marks the end of partnership of Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton before he shifts to Ferrari in 2025.

THE PROBLEM WITH MERCEDES W15…!

The problem with W15 is rather seen as “interesting” the team is struggling with correlation between their simulation data and real-life performance.

Also, the team principle the Toto Wolff mentioned that additional 70 points of downforce has been vanished from simulator to the real world in W15. This is costing the team to lose certain amount of lap time throughout the corners.