Toto Wolff has spoken about the future Mercedes W15 that Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will drive in the 2024 F1 season Mercedes F1 team boss Toto Wolff hinted at what to expect from the W15 as he considered his 2023 car.
The Brackley-based side have underachieved in two consecutive seasons, failing to live up to their lofty expectations. After winning eight consecutive F1 constructors’ championships and seven drivers’ championships between 2014 and 2021, Mercedes has won just one GP since then.
Their recent struggles were largely blamed on their ultimately doomed no-pod philosophy, which saw them take a radically different direction from the rest of the F1 paddock when it came to mastering changes for the 2022 season. Mercedes finally reversed course and introduced more traditional side racks in 2023.
They were the last F1 team to do so. “Physics and not mysticism”  The media spoke to Wolff on the red carpet at the 2023 Motorsport Awards and asked what to expect from his team’s 2024 car. “I think we were bold and brave to come out with a car that was a different concept that nobody else had before and it didn’t work,” began the 51-year-old, speaking of the 2022 W13. and later W14. “I think it’s that simple. It’s physics and not mysticism.”Â
After changing slightly, he turned his attention to the upcoming F1 season, which starts in February. Wolff was quite open about Mercedes updating its current car with an all-new design for 2024, while some others in the paddock chose revolution over evolution: “Next year’s car is more traditional in terms of what you would expect from a Formula 1 car, but it has some interesting details that we haven’t seen in other cars.”
Teasing new updates for the W15, Wolff hopes Mercedes can make a significant leap forward. The team finished 2023 in the P2 class in the battle of the constructors and improved on 2022, pushing Ferrari into P3.
So we look forward to next year. “All sails are set for 2024. We are learning and doing more analysis, but it is about the new car, the organization.
“We knew that after eight events there would be a time when it would get tougher. “The day we lose are the days our competitors regret because we learn the most and this year has definitely been character building and I hope the stones are in place to be more competitive.”
