Mercedes unveiled its 2024 car, the W15, on Wednesday before taking some test laps of the Silverstone circuit. Both the drivers and team principal Toto Wolff were on hand to witness the W15 make its way around a soggy track on a typically gray February day.
Fortunately, warmer climates beckon and the car will be ready to race in pre-season testing in Bahrain next week. There, the team will have three days to test its 2024 concept, collect crucial aerodynamic data and begin to see if they have built a car capable of challenging for the title.
With a black and silver livery, the W15 has kept faith with the wider sidepods that were a feature of its radical new concept that was unveiled midway through last season. But given that 2023 was a compromise with the team hampered by a bathtub that belonged to the previous concept, 2024 should mark a departure from those two difficult years as the team begins to build for the future.
“There has been a lot of focus on improving the previous car's unpredictable rear axle, which drivers often referred to as spiteful,” said technical director James Allison. “We have worked on that to try to create a car that is reassuring for the drivers.
“At the beginning of a corner, when you brake hard and turn, the rear needs to feel rock solid. And then, as you approach the apex, the car needs to feel progressively more agile and eager to turn.” We've been trying to incorporate that into the car.
“We have also worked hard to create a car with less drag and to add cornering performance.”
Silverstone was also the place where Aston Martin tested its car on Monday, while McLaren did the same on Wednesday. George Russell was then seen heading out on fully wet tires for his first laps in the W15 in the afternoon.
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Teams can run their cars for filming purposes before pre-season testing, and the rules change to allow up to 200km to be completed. But while they may collect some limited data, most of their learnings will come from pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.