The Mercedes-Benz AMG Formula 1 team on Wednesday unveiled its contender for the 2024 season, the W15 E Performance.
The car will be the final Mercedes F1 car driven by Lewis Hamilton before the seven-time world champion makes the switch to Ferrari in 2025. Hamilton will drive alongside George Russell once again, with Mick Schumacher and Fred Vesti serving as reserve drivers. Toto Wolff, one of the team's main shareholders, remains team principal.
High hopes ride on the W15 as Mercedes hasn't delivered a competitive car since the 2021 season. The W15 has been considerably altered from last year's W14, despite the design rules largely carrying over unchanged.
There's a new chassis, a new transmission casing, and new underbody aerodynamics, as well as changes made to improve what Mercedes describes as an “unpredictable rear axle” on the previous car. Some silver returns to the car's livery, though many areas keep the exposed carbon-fiber look that dominated the previous car, a move made to save weight by skipping paint.
2024 Mercedes-Benz AMG W15 E Performance Formula 1 race car
The rules for power unit designs are fixed across all teams in an effort to allow them to invest in development of power units to meet new design rules being introduced in 2026. Some changes can still be made within the existing regulations, though, particularly when it comes to improving reliability, something that will be particularly important this season given the record 24 races on the calendar.
Mercedes uses its own power unit, which in line with the rules consists of a turbocharged 1.6-liter V-6 working in combination with two motor-generators, one on the driveline and another integrated with the turbo. Peak output is in the vicinity of 1,000 hp. Mercedes also supplies power units to Aston Martin, McLaren, and Williams.
The W15 is due to make its initial shakedown run at the Silverstone Circuit in the U.K. on Wednesday. It will then head to the Bahrain International Circuit for pre-season testing Feb. 21-23. The first race of the new season, the Bahrain Grand Prix, will take place at the same circuit on March 2.
