Today, Mercedes have revealed the livery that the W15 will wear for the 2024 F1 season, and there are a few things to note.
Mercedes have revealed the livery of the W15, their 2024 challenger. Mercedes are the ninth team to launch their 2024 cars, with Red Bull Racing left on the roster.
Introducing the Mercedes W15! 🤩#F1 @MercedesAMGF1 pic.twitter.com/5lVjvsafa5
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 14, 2024
Just as they first raced in black in 2020 to show solidarity to the Black Lives Matter movement, for the fourth time in the Silver Arrows history, Mercedes will race in black livery. It seems fitting, as this will be their final season with Lewis Hamilton, the driver who has not only been a champion a multitude of times but has also been an advocate for equality in motorsports.
As you can see, Mercedes has paid homage to their iconic Silver, by including it in the colour scheme of the livery, with the nose silver and Petronas green – Petronas are Mercedes’ title sponsor.
Minute details
A lot of teams have a lot of revealed carbon fibre as part of their livery. However, Mercedes is one of the few that have featured more paint than carbon fibre. So much so, that it is hard to tell if there’s actually any exposed carbon fibre.
Since the introduction of the new regulations in 2022, Mercedes have launched the W13, and the W14, both of which carried the ‘zero-pod’ concept. We should note, however, that later into the 2023 season, following a few upgrades, the W14 carried sidepods.
Any hint of the unusual upper SIS position (and wing fairing around it) caused by the zeropod legacy is now gone, this really is an entirely new car. https://t.co/NZkrR9KUAb
— Bryson Sullivan 🇺🇲 (@NaturalParadigm) February 14, 2024
The W15 marks the first car that Mercedes have launched since 2022 that will have sidepods. The team at Brackley seem to have realised that the ‘zero-pod’ concept might not have been the way to go, as they instilled confidence in the sidepod concept by including it in their 2024 challenger.
“Development has gone well relative to the ambitous objectives we have set ourselves. Sometimes you will come up short on these, and sometimes you will do better than you thought. But there are many things that we put high on the priority list to make the car more driveable, be that ride or stability. We’ll only know what we’ve achieved once we get on track.” – Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff on the development of the W15.
“We’ve also worked hard to create a less draggt car, and to add performance in the corners. There’s also been some hosuekeeping on areas in which we had room for improvement, including the DRS effect, and pit stop performance.” – Mercedes Technical Director, James Allison on the areas focused to improve the W15.
When does testing start?
As for the performance of the car, we will have to wait until testing to know if Mercedes will have a competitive car. Testing this year will be in Bahrain from 21st February to 23rd February.
Whilst testing will provide results, the true test will be at the first Grand Prix, come the first Grand Prix. The first race will be in Bahrain, with Free Practice 1 on 29th February and the race on 2nd March.
The 2024 season will be the first to feature 24 races. The final race of the season will be on 8th December, with our regular season closer, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Everyone will be looking to see whether Mercedes will deliver a title contender for Lewis Hamilton’s last season with Mercedes before the 7-time Champion joins Ferrari in 2025.
