Mercedes shifts focus from championship pursuit

Despite securing three Grand Prix victories so far, the Mercedes F1 team has faced a challenging 2024 season as it continues to grapple with the complexities of the ground effect era. Currently fourth in the Constructors' Championship, with three races remaining, Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin explained that the team has opted to shift its focus toward better understanding its car, especially in light of the unpredictable challenges it presents to its drivers, particularly Lewis Hamilton.

An example that defines the situation was during the United States Grand Prix weekend in Austin, where George Russell spun his W15 and crashed during qualifying, followed by Hamilton, who also spun out and became stuck in the gravel at the same spot the following day during the Grand Prix. While Russell's performance improved in the following race weekends, the seven-time world champion continued to voice concerns about the lack of grip, even describing his W15 as the worst car he had ever driven during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

With a 162-point gap to Red Bull in third place and constant struggles in key areas since the start of the season, Shovlin explained that the team is now fully focused on understanding the root causes of its issues and making necessary improvements for next season. His comments follow a recent revelation that the 2025 car will be an evolution of the W15. He said:

"The main thing in terms of learning is that the corners that we are weak in are still the same ones. It is the interconnected, slow corners. That is normally where we trip up.

"Going into the weekend, we certainly had sector two in Brazil, which has a lot of those corners, on our radar as an area that we might struggle.

"The big focus in these remaining races for us is learning what we can. We are in a position in the championship where we cannot challenge in front of us. It is very unlikely we are going to see any challenge from behind.

"Our focus has very much shifted to learning what we need to this year to apply to next year in order to get on top of those issues."

While the car's pace met expectations in the wet conditions at Interlagos, Shovlin said that it gave the team enough data to go back and study. He revealed that data from the other tracks will also be reviewed to understand the changes that need to be made on the 2025 car. He added:

"In Brazil, it was useful having that wet running because you want to get a read on the car in the wet.

"There is always a few wet quali and race sessions over the year. It was reassuring to see that the pace in those conditions was decent.

"But we are going to be looking at all the remaining tracks to assess performance and just confirm what we understand about this car and whether the changes we are hoping to make for next year are going to improve those areas."

He also emphasized that the next three races will allow Mercedes to understand the gap it needs to fill for the 2025 season. He explained:

"Vegas has a lot of straight line and low-speed corners. Qatar is a faster track and then, finishing in Abu Dhabi, which is a mix of everything, it will give us a good read on how we are performing and who is the benchmark.

"Sometimes it is Red Bull, sometimes McLaren, sometimes Ferrari, but it will allow us to establish the gap that we need to close down over those winter months."