Mercedes is the latest team to reveal its 2024 F1 challenger, which now sports a new black and silver livery. With the new W15, the Silver Arrows will be hoping to bridge the gap to Red Bull.
- W15 sports new silver and black livery
- F1 pre-season testing on February 21-23
Mercedes W15 updates
After a period of dominating F1, Mercedes struggled with adapting to the new 2022 rules, which reintroduced ground effects. It followed the same concept early in 2023 before switching focus to a new concept, making some key changes to what is now the W15.
Some of these changes include a new chassis and a new gearbox casing. “A big focus has been on improving the previous car’s unpredictable rear axle,” explains technical director James Allison.
“We have worked hard to ensure that both axles, particularly the rear, retains better control of the tyre than on the W14. There’s also been some housekeeping on areas in which we had room for improvement, including the DRS effect and pit stop performance.”
Mercedes finished second overall in the championship last year, but the team trailed Red Bull by a massive 451 points. With its overhauled W15, Mercedes will be hoping to close that gap.
“I believe the previous two years were necessary for us to readjust, recalibrate and reinvent ourselves in certain areas. That root-and-branch approach is never easy. But we’ve made progress and look forward to taking the next step with the W15. It won’t be a linear path, but when we stumble, we will get back up and keep climbing,” said team principal Toto Wolff.
2024 also marks the Silver Arrows’ 90th anniversary. To celebrate this, the W15 features a new livery that transitions from silver to black. Exposed carbon fibre has emerged as a big trend across the grid this year; the ideology is that the weight saved by using minimal paint can then be used to further tweak parts that contribute to performance.
Mercedes 2024 F1 drivers
Mercedes continues with its same driver pairing of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, however, 2024 will be Hamilton’s last season with Mercedes. The seven-time F1 world champion has confirmed that he will be moving to Ferrari from 2025, as part of a multi-year deal.
F1 pre-season testing gets underway in Bahrain on February 21-23 before the season kicks off at the same venue on February 29-March 2.
