Mercedes W15 Speculation Thread

[maygun]

Ultimately we have to take anything Merc says with a grain of salt. On the evidence of the last 2 seasons, they are not exactly the authority on ground effect.

As much as this stands, I'm sure this was meant to make Merc appear weak on purpose. "When strong, appear weak."

I have absolutely no doubt there is an abundance of floor geometries, within the rules, that allow the floor to generate much more downforce than teams reached in 2023, across wider range of ride heights. The trick is to find the right path and reach this point.

Still, the maximum and minimum area you can define in that geometry is fixed, so the amount of downforce you can generate. RW/FW development is very limited, with no barge boards with frozen engines, and no changed minimum weight limit, I dont understand why it is so controversial to say there is a close limit.

[Vanja #66]

RW/FW development is very limited, with no barge boards with frozen engines, and no changed minimum weight limit, I dont understand why it is so controversial to say there is a close limit.

Floors are far more important than wings now and they are nowhere near their development limit after only two years of these regulations

[MaxLL]

Floors are far more important than wings now and they are nowhere near their development limit after only two years of these regulations

When development reaches its limit, they will realize that the best was in the past.

[Aryoh]

New W15 teaser:

[hollus]

Posts about the carbon control unit sitting in what likely is a W14 have been deleted.
The man belongs in the team thread; the car belongs here, though, if it might be a W15

[Farnborough]

Likely a W15 buck/jig/rig or similar given there's been so much attention focused on driver positioning relative to W14.

All of the elements around steering rack, roll bar, suspension links (moved ad hoc last year at Monaco) will impact new driver ergonomics.

Don't think the black is indication of anything though, most concept build will have absolutely no finish needed or applied.

Related to this (in McL MP 4/4 video) was an interesting bit about drivers ankles etc fitting in through the bulkheads around that area, with the interaction of them as their feet moved through the pedal arc. Not a lot of room in there with many components packed in.

[Venturiation]

Lewis tried the W15 this week and with the rumors about him moving to Ferrari it's not looking good for W15

[K1Plus]

Lewis tried the W15 this week and with the rumors about him moving to Ferrari it's not looking good for W15

Yet Anthony Davidson (even though he's mostly a Sky F1 pundit) is their sim driver, when he drove it in the sim, the W15 and said that for the first time it feels like a real F1 car. Hmmm, maybe it feels like an F1 car in terms of being stable and driveable, but what if it's slow AF?

That could mean Lewis leaving, just for the sake of being slow, the W15.

[Venturiation]

Lewis tried the W15 this week and with the rumors about him moving to Ferrari it's not looking good for W15

Yet Anthony Davidson (even though he's mostly a Sky F1 pundit) is their sim driver, when he drove it in the sim, the W15 and said that for the first time it feels like a real F1 car. Hmmm, maybe it feels like an F1 car in terms of being stable and driveable, but what if it's slow AF?

That could mean Lewis leaving, just for the sake of being slow, the W15.

Just like the W14 that didn't bounce anymore but was slow

[SSScoffee]

Strong chance that the W15 is a dog

[f1jcw]

Maybe the W15 is really good, going to compete for theWDC, win 9 WDCs and Lewis just wants to drive atleast once in a Ferrari for the history.

Can but hope

[mstar]

Strong chance that the W15 is a dog

I think so. If lewis drove the sim and talked about the figures on the car etc etc he knows what there the car will be. I think he was told they made an improvement but it WON"T beat redbull over 1 season maybe end of the season they get faster.

[Luscion]

Strong chance that the W15 is a dog

I think so. If lewis drove the sim and talked about the figures on the car etc etc he knows what there the car will be. I think he was told they made an improvement but it WON"T beat redbull over 1 season maybe end of the season they get faster.

According to a chief editor for Motorsport, the theory of him trying the W15 in the sim had nothing to do with Lewis' decision to go over to Ferrari

[AR3-GP]

Hamilton will have known what the performance improvement was going to be based on what he was told before the sim session.

[KimiRai]

According to a chief editor for Motorsport, the theory of him trying the W15 in the sim had nothing to do with Lewis' decision to go over to Ferrari

I doubt it... Lewis is a winner, and what a winner, one of the best. More importantly, he wants to win again. I don't believe there are no performance reasons. It doesn't necessarily mean that the W15 has to be a bad car, but the conclusion that it's not a good sign for Mercedes' future is inescapable.