A three-day pre-season test is scheduled for the 2024 F1 season, with nine teams seemingly battling behind Red Bull just as the 2023 season ended.
Is it one of those teams? Mercedes.
The Silver Arrows, who finished second in the constructors’ championship a year ago, are hoping to rejoin the team for the upcoming season. Testing is coming to a close and the team is looking ahead to the start of the 2024 season, believing the 2024 challenger is a significant improvement over last year’s W14.
“We have spent three productive days here in Bahrain and have been able to get to know the W15. Compared to last year’s car, the feedback from drivers has been very different, more positive and encouraging,” said the team. trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said at the post-test media briefing. “The team has worked hard to fix the handling flaws that are essential to the W14, and it’s great to see that we seem to have resolved many of those issues.”
Lewis Hamilton, who drove both sessions for Mercedes on Thursday, finished the day in third place. At the end of Mercedes’ afternoon session on the final day of pre-season testing, George Russell set the second fastest lap of the day, despite being on the softer C4 compound.
Still, Shovlin concluded from this result that the team is in a much better situation than it was a year ago.
“During the testing process we have gained a better understanding of the car. The challenge over the next few days will be to scrutinize the results and put together the optimal package for the race weekend. Predicting pace from testing It’s never easy, as any team is very effective at masking their pace when needed. But we’re in a much better position than we were 12 months ago. It’s clear,” Shovlin added. “We are currently having a busy few days making final preparations for the season opener, but we are already looking forward to the race weekend and the season ahead.”
As for the driver, both Russell and Hamilton agree that the W15 is a step or two ahead of its predecessor.
“We are aware that we need to find more lap times. We knew that would happen before the test, but Red Bull looks very strong again. Still, we are better than we were 12 months ago. I’m sure we’re in a much better position,” Russell said. “The Brackley and Brixworth teams have done a great job getting us into this position with a car that is a step in the right direction. We need to focus on making the most of the package we have and secondly, adding downforce to close the gap.”
Hamilton, who is in his final year at Mercedes before moving to Ferrari, can go into the season with confidence based on what he has seen in the W15.
“Overall it was a really good test. I’m really proud of everyone at trackside and everyone at the factory, both women and men, both at Brackley, Brixworth and here in Bahrain. Everyone is working tirelessly. It’s so encouraging and great to see everyone working so well together. The focus, determination and communication are the best I’ve ever seen. ” Hamilton said.
“We have work to do, but we know we’re not where we want to be yet. But we knew in testing that we would be,” he added. “We have a great platform to build on. We’ll go out there and work hard over the next few days to look at all the data from testing. We’re really excited for the start of the season next week. I’m looking forward to the season in good shape.”
