Andrew Shovlin’s plan to bring Mercedes back to the top in 2025. Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes' head of engineering, outlines a plan to bring the team back to the top positions in F1.

It was back in 2021 when the Formula 1 constructors’ title was won by the Brackley team led by Toto Wolff. No one would have imagined that performances would nosedive over the next three years. It’s with this backdrop that Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ head of engineering, outlines a plan to bring the Stuttgart star back to the top positions in the F1 world championship by 2025.

Many will remember that in 2022, when the W13 was introduced, almost everyone was impressed. A “zero sidepod” car, completely distinct from the competition. With that concept, even the greatest engineers thought it would continue to dominate.

As we know, reality turned out differently. In 2022, Mercedes managed only one win, with George Russell in Brazil, allowing them to finish third in the constructors’ standings, far behind Red Bull.

In 2023, performance was roughly the same, though there were no victories. Despite this, Toto Wolff’s team secured second place, ahead of Ferrari.

This season has shown slight improvement. Three victories were achieved—two with Lewis Hamilton and one with George Russell—though still not enough to keep up with the three direct competitors. Currently, Mercedes is fourth in the constructors’ standings with 382 points.

After the summer break, the team faced its most challenging period. A new floor introduced at Spa significantly worsened the W15’s performance, leaving engineers completely off track. Not even the other package brought to Austin improved the situation.

“We continue to struggle particularly in slow corners, especially those that follow one after another,” Andrew Shovlin said in an interview. “The car has a lot of roll, and this is a problem we need to address. We knew the Austin package wouldn’t improve the situation.” – he pointed out.

“However, what we expected was that it would enhance the car’s baseline performance; based on what we’ve seen, we are optimistic. Right now, all the engineers are very busy, and we hope to make the right adjustments over the winter to eliminate these weaknesses by 2025. In Brazil, for example, we struggled a lot in the middle sector. It was also very useful to drive in the wet to understand the car’s behavior in those conditions. In these remaining races, our goal is to identify where we can improve.”

“Las Vegas has a lot of straights and slow corners. Qatar, on the other hand, is very fast, while Abu Dhabi is a mix of everything. This last one will give us a good indication of where we stand.” – the Mercedes head of engineering concluded.