Can an aerodynamic overhaul make Mercedes’ W16 a regular winner?

The shifting goalposts, in relation to allegories and idioms about luck, sidestep from “third time’s the attraction” to “unhealthy luck is available in threes”. And, in relation to Formulation 1’s present technical rules, Mercedes’ personal expectations could make an identical step as its third automotive on this ruleset – the W15 – couldn’t carry an finish to the difficulties it has confronted with constructing a constant race winner.

Positive, it received probably the most races of any automotive it has produced since 2022, however the crew was additionally a distant fourth behind McLaren, Ferrari, and Crimson Bull within the constructors’ championship. This quite lays the inconsistency of the W15 naked, because the automotive typically struggled to stroll a high-wire act between conserving its Pirelli tyres of their temperature window and overheating them to a degree the place the automotive not often felt malleable for both George Russell or Lewis Hamilton. In cooler situations with smoother observe surfaces, this flaw was not often a difficulty, however these stars had not aligned on the majority of 2024’s races…

Can the W16 repair these points, and permit Mercedes to log off from the present technology of automotive on a excessive? To do this, the crew must have understood final 12 months’s points – and the problems skilled within the earlier two seasons – and stroll the road traced out by all of its earlier misgivings by means of elimination.

Visually, there are myriad key variations in comparison with the W15 – which, in flip, was very completely different to the W14. It appears like Mercedes has lined each single risk with its aero work over the previous three years, and the automotive is now set off by a drooped, chiselled nostril that extends additional ahead than its predecessor. The tip now sits midway alongside the entrance wing mainplane, which is spoon formed within the centre.

Lots of the entrance wing’s mod-cons are evolutions of ideas that the crew explored final 12 months; the distribution of the 4 wing components contains a comparatively short-chord mainplane and a long-chord second factor, one which extrudes forwards on the junction with the endplate. The third and fourth components are quick in chord and have the sequence of tiny particulars at their attachment level to the endplate seen final 12 months; these hyperlink to an extra plate with tiny fins that duct airflow outwards by means of the hole within the endplate and across the entrance tyre to mitigate the impact of wake turbulence on the ground.

The crew has caught with a push-rod entrance suspension association, deciding to not be a part of its fellow front-running hopefuls with the swap to a pull-rod and profit from the decrease rocker place. Regardless, it has revised the place of its entrance suspension members, though it seems to be with out the ‘adjustable’ higher wishbone the place the crew ran with a removable panel that might place the rear leg at two completely different positions alongside the chassis flank.

Maybe the most important seen change to the components comes with Mercedes’ adoption of Crimson Bull RB20-esque sidepods that function a totally built-in inlet overwing and cut up inlets; one recessed into the undercut and the opposite alongside the chassis bulkhead. This has allowed the crew to pursue a big undercut alongside the sidepods, one with a bulge beneath that ought to mitigate any potential technology of elevate on this space and likewise enable house for the radiators to take a seat.

It seems as if the crew is conserving its playing cards near its chest with its flooring, choosing one which ran in an identical specification (alongside the perimeters, not less than) on the finish of final season. There’s additionally a quasi-return of the high-sided engine cowl, albeit not as excessive because the one run in 2023, because it has been moulded to shrink the bodywork across the rear suspension – which retains a push-rod format.

Making the W16 a way more predictable buyer, with out the expense of dropping any velocity, would be the key between providing a real problem for race wins and sinking additional behind

Like Ferrari and Haas, Mercedes has swept the mountings of its higher wing aircraft additional ahead, which permits the mainplane to be partially reduce away on the level at which it meets the endplate. This enables the aerodynamicists to play with vorticity right here, giving the automotive the possibility to generate airflow patterns that not solely enhance the effectiveness of the rear wing however enable it to hyperlink with the beam wing and the move from the underbody.

Making the W16 a way more predictable buyer, with out the expense of dropping any velocity, would be the key between providing a real problem for race wins and sinking additional behind final 12 months’s Massive Three. The adjustments to the aerodynamics of the automotive have been all-encompassing, with additional modifications underneath the pores and skin to make sure that the automotive lastly delivers on Mercedes’ aspirations to get again into extra common podium finishes.

With a rookie driver on board in Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the necessity for predictability is magnified. Thought of to be a precocious-yet-raw expertise, the Italian wants one thing he can depend on to make sure he can get a correct grounding in F1; a 12 months with final 12 months’s automotive would seemingly hamper his studying expertise behind the wheel. It’s going to be as much as Russell to steer the event from the cockpit, and he’ll be a demanding affect on the crew; if he does not suppose the brand new automotive is as much as scratch, he’ll say it. With out Hamilton’s aura, Mercedes could possibly be forgiven for lacking one thing; Russell should fill that void.

Subscribe to Autosport Plus for extra Formulation 1 technical and in-depth evaluation forward of the 2025 season.

Can the W16 push Mercedes again into the struggle for titles?

Photograph by: Mercedes AMG