Mercedes out of 2024 F1 race: a long “winter test” begins in Texas. The 300th Grand Prix since the official return of the Mercedes F1 team was not honored in the best way.

The 300th Grand Prix since the official return of the Mercedes F1 team was not honored in the best way. George Russell’s front row start in the Sprint Shootout was a flash in the pan. Already during the Sprint Race, it became clear that the W15 was unable to keep up with Ferrari, McLaren, and a recovering Red Bull. The qualifying session was even more traumatic, with the two black-trimmed Silver Arrows starring in a negative light. Lewis Hamilton went no further than 17th place, eliminated meekly in Q1.

Meanwhile, his teammate and successor lost control of his car in the “cursed” braking of turn 19, crashing disastrously into the barriers. Car number 63 sustained significant damage, requiring a rollback to the previous specification, as the parts for the new upgrade package introduced in Austin were unavailable. A fatal start for the Austrian Grand Prix winner. The seven-time world champion’s race lasted very little due to an off-track excursion similar to Russell’s in qualifying, which left him stuck in the gravel.

The seven-time champion and future Ferrari driver reported that he was trying to bring the tires up to temperature, but his W15 began to bounce, lightening the rear, which he could not control entering turn 12. In short, a costly mistake. The weekend for the Anglo-Caribbean driver was indecipherable. In the first and only free practice session and in the early stages of qualifying for the 100 km mini-race, he was the best interpreter of sector 1, where he was timing significantly faster than his competitors.

Then, all of a sudden, like a bolt from the blue, a rapid and progressive decline came that even Lewis, at the end of the Texan Friday, could not explain. Unintentionally, the United States Grand Prix could have offered the team led by Toto Wolff the opportunity to compare two different specifications (new for Lewis Hamilton and the previous one for George Russell). Unfortunately, however, Lewis Hamilton’s early retirement did not provide the chance to collect a wealth of useful data. For this reason too, Mercedes leaves the Austin weekend with more doubts than certainties.

F1, Mercedes: the mistakes in turn 19 are no coincidence
It is well known that the sprint format in Formula 1 is not suited for the debut of a major upgrade package, as all sessions except FP1 do not allow for much experimentation. However, the Anglo-German team now has little to ask of this season, being out of contention even for the constructors’ title. The mindset is to use the remaining weekends as many test sessions with an eye on 2025. Wolff does not even hide this, admitting that the similar mistakes made by both drivers in turn 19 cannot be blamed on the drivers.

The team principal from Vienna believes that a part of the exits that knocked out his drivers equipped with the new upgrade package may be due to the F1 car itself. An undesirable behavior from the Mercedes that, however, is not considered significant enough to stop the development process of the Silver Arrows. However, George Russell, in the 300 km race with the “old” package, made a decent comeback that brought him up to sixth place, ahead of Checo Perez, who struggled in 10th position.

All this despite the ridiculous penalty imposed after overtaking Valtteri Bottas. The 1998-born driver explained that his car had the potential to aim for the podium. The necessary condition was a wider operating window concerning the Pirelli tires, without specifying whether he was referring to the W15 with or without upgrades. Chivalrously, Lewis Hamilton had offered to provide the updates installed on car number 44 to his teammate, a proposal appreciated but not accepted by his teammate or the team.

Perhaps it wouldn’t have made any difference in light of the issues confirmed by Lewis. As often happens with the current generation of F1 cars, in fact, the developments, while promising in simulations, remain a big question mark in the real-world context of this agnostic 2024 Formula 1 campaign. Next stop, Mexico City, at the circuit named after the unforgettable Hermanos Rodriguez, where the engineers of the three-pointed star hope to gather more data from the latest W15 specification and, in turn, achieve the desired performance.