A troubling trend is emerging at Mercedes in 2024, and the Brackley squad could not pinpoint the exact reason for their woes. Despite the W15 not being as competitive as Lewis Hamilton‘s title challenger in 2021, the situation is quite similar in terms of Lewis calling his W12 a ‘diva’ for being too challenging to set up accurately. So far, in the 2024 season, Mercedes has looked like a powerful car at the start of the weekend during the early practice sessions. However, the car’s performance tends to fade as the weekend progresses.

It’s a cause for concern for the Silver Arrows. Even last weekend in Japan, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell expressed optimism about the team’s progress, with Hamilton highlighting their “best session” so far in Free Practice 1. However, race day presented its own set of challenges, with the 39-year-old struggling with a “huge understeer” and finishing in ninth place. It was a conversation that recently came up during the F1 Nation podcast as the 9-time Le Mans winner, Tom Kristensen, called it a subject of frustration for the team.

“Co-relation is the word there, between whatever they do,” Tom said in a podcast as he started breaking down the issues with the W15. “The car is a bit of a diva. It’s on the knife edge, and they don’t know what to expect when there is a wind direction change when there is a temperature change, and then, of course, when suddenly there are different [tire] compounds as well during the Grand Prix. And now and then, they are performing well, and they’re strong, and they’re good. But other times they are not, and of course that frustrates people, and the team is frustrated.”

Toto Wolff also expressed similar sentiments about the car’s unpredictable nature after the Japanese Grand Prix as he labeled the first stint of the race as ‘atrocious.’

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes are using these races as ‘Live Testing’ of the W15

Mercedes had finally moved away from the failed zero sidepod concept they introduced in 2022. As such, they are a couple of years behind other teams like Red Bull and Ferrari in terms of their development cycle in the current regulations. And that kind of deficit is quite complex to overcome in such a competitive sport.

Reflecting on the race in Japan, Wolff explained the team’s approach to experimenting with the W15, stating, “It is live testing now for us… We had an atrocious first stint… Very good second and third stint, and that is the positive that we take from the race.”

Despite a poor start to the season, Wolff remains confident in the team’s ability to turn things around, much like McLaren did last season. “Much better, definitely much better,” he told Formula 1 when asked about gaining a better understanding of the new concept. “Lots more data to point us in the right direction, even if it’s not reflected in the result.“

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For a team that has won 8 constructors titles in a row, Mercedes has the expertise and experience needed to dig themselves out of this hole. Will they be able to do it before the next significant regulation change in 2026? What are your thoughts on the matter?