James Allison reveals the reasons behind the W15's struggles

Three races into the 2024 Formula 1 season, Mercedes finds itself trailing third-placed McLaren by 29 points, with a best finish of just fifth place.

The once-dominant team has struggled to unlock the performance promised by the W15 car, despite improved driveability for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

Emerging patterns

According to Mercedes technical director James Allison, a concerning trend has emerged - the W15 appears to be less competitive in warmer conditions.

This was evident in the contrast between the car's pace in the cooler FP3 session and the warmer qualifying in Australia, where Mercedes seemed to plateau while rivals extracted more performance.

Allison explained:

"We are starting to see a pattern emerge that most weekends we have a period where we are feeling confident about the car, but then in the paying sessions, in qualifying and the race, that slips through our fingers."

High-speed corners

Another issue plaguing the W15 is a lack of grip in high-speed corners, exacerbated by bouncing.

This first came to light in the heat of Saudi Arabia, where the car's competitiveness dropped in faster sections of the circuit.

Allison stated,

"Probably the strongest correlation that we can make at the moment is that our competitiveness drops when the track is warm, when the day is at its warmest and therefore the tyre temperatures rise with those of the track."

Setup or design flaw?

Mercedes is yet to determine whether the W15's shortcomings can be addressed through setup changes or if more significant design modifications are required.

Allison acknowledged that if setup tweaks prove inadequate, the team may need to revisit the car's underlying aerodynamic characteristics or suspension design.

"If you conclude having exhausted the degrees of freedom that you have available to you in set-up terms that you still need to go further, well then that gets harder at that point,"

Allison remarked.

Road ahead

As the season progresses, Mercedes faces a crucial task – identifying the root causes behind the W15's temperature sensitivity and high-speed struggles.

Only then can the team devise an effective strategy, be it through meticulous setup work or more extensive design changes, to regain its competitive edge and mount a championship challenge.