F1 News: George Russell Reveals Return Of Dreaded Trait To W15
Despite George Russell praising Mercedes's 2024 title contender, the W15, and calling it a "different beast", he revealed two points that could come in the way of the team trying to close the gap up front. The British driver revealed a bouncing problem he experienced in Bahrain.
Key Takeaways:
- George Russell praises Mercedes's 2024 car, the W15, calling it a "different beast" and expressing confidence in a more aggressive setup.
- Russell identifies a bouncing issue and insufficient downforce as challenges faced during testing in Bahrain, emphasizing the need for ongoing refinement.
- Despite challenges, Russell sees the W15 as a significant improvement over its predecessors, offering a better platform for development and expressing optimism for performance enhancements.
Mercedes Press Image
In the past, the team struggled with bouncing issues on its ground-effect era cars, and Mercedes acknowledges that the 2024 car is built on a completely new concept. While both drivers, Russell and Lewis Hamilton, have noted positive aspects of the W15, addressing the bouncing problem remains a priority during the team's setup refinement to prevent any impact on performance and points.
Speaking to the media, Russell explained:
“I would say this year’s car is a totally different race car.
“To the point that the things we learned from last year in the way we were setting the car up, we will need to approach it differently this year. So, there’s a lot to learn about this.
“It feels much closer to how a race car should feel. But the one area that we need to continue to work on is probably the bouncing that we’re seeing. We got caught up with a bit of bouncing last week.
“We were pushing the car really aggressively. But as I said, we’re dealing with a totally different beast this year, whereas 2022, 2023 they were both cut from the same cloth.”
However, despite the challenge that seems like it would be addressed soon, Russell added that the W15 allows the team to be more aggressive with the setup and tuning, like how a race car should be. He said:
“Obviously, it’s one circuit, we’ve only had one and a half days each.
“Maybe we’ll have a surprise when we go to Jeddah next week but I’m confident that this is much more… it feels more like a race car. And I think we can now afford to be more aggressive with the set-up, we can be more aggressive with the mapping of the car and where we put the downforce on.
“It felt like in the last two years, everything we did was a bit of a plaster that never solved the underlying issue that the car faced. And I think for the first time in two years, we feel like the numbers are backing that up.
“We saw all of the issues we had when we went back through the data W14 and the W13 had. And we’re definitely much more confident this is more of a race car.
“But there’s only one thing that matters is how quickly it goes around the track, and right now it’s not quick enough.
“I’m confident that the development slope of this car should be greater than we’ve seen with the past to two cars, because we’ve got a better platform. But it is just outright performance.