Mercedes F1 has sometimes experienced fluctuations in performance compared to its rivals during the 2024 season. Andrew Shovlin, director of track engineering, explains that the fact of having brought development packages later than the Competition has sometimes played a role in these differences.
“I think the most important thing is development. If we compare our developments to those of our main competitors, we see that we often bring our big package a few races later” Shovlin explained. “But if we brought it in earlier, it would have been a smaller package.”
“The fact is that on average, over a season, we weren’t fast enough when we made changes, we had a few races where we were competitive, the teams were trying to beat them, to bring their new things , and they were getting ahead again. This is undoubtedly the main mechanism.”
“I think the start of the season was poor. The car wasn’t well balanced, it didn’t work on all the circuits. We solved those problems in the first seven or so races. Then I think we We stayed in a normal development race for the rest of the year.”
Shovlin says overheating of the rear tires and the Mercedes W15’s ability to run close to the track were the two main faults costing the Brackley team performance during the 2024 season.
“Rear tire overheating is something I don’t think we’re as good at as McLaren, Red Bull or Ferrari, and it’s probably what has affected us most recently at circuits like Singapore.
“So we’re looking at what we can do to reduce the temperature of the rear tires – and any work in this area is two-fold: on the one hand, can we reduce the temperature inside? And the other is can we reduce the temperature inside? “it is possible to evacuate more temperature.”
“But it’s definitely an area where on Sunday we had a big gap to the best in some of these races. And it’s definitely an area we need to focus on next year.”
“It’s absolutely fair to say that on these tracks we suffer more often. It’s possible to analyze the ride height, and I don’t think we’re very different from the others, but handling is an area on which we have focused on with this regulation.”
“In general, we have made progress. But the essence of development in Formula 1 is to solve problems, and to solve them faster than your competitors. This is how you can move up to the forefront. positions.”
