Mercedes opens up on the factors that hurt Hamilton with the W15

had in 2024.

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Throughout the 24-race season, consisting of six shorter sprint events, Hamilton was outpaced by Russell in qualifying 24 times to 6, with a margin of 19-5 if sprint events are not considered.

The lack of speed compared to Russell was occasionally just a couple of tenths of a second, but given the last season's highly competitive F1 grid, this relatively small shortfall caused Hamilton to drop several positions at the start of the race, thereby making his Sunday recoveries even more challenging.

Mercedes head of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin stated that Hamilton was ultimately hindered by a car that lacked sufficient speed and featured a tight set-up window.

The seven-time world champion's driving style had certain nuances that prevented him from fully exploiting the potential of the new tyres.

"We have not found enough speed in the car, which has been the main challenge we have been tackling," Shovlin noted, commenting on what Hamilton faced.

Achieving a favourable balance spot for the car has proven difficult, and even when that sweet spot is reached, it's been a struggle to maintain.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15

Image by Lubomir Asenov / Photos: Motorsport Images

Beyond that, I believe Lewis has had challenges on a single lap. His race pace has been consistent throughout the weekend. However, with a competitive grid, one often starts a few positions behind his teammate, and then gets held up, making it difficult to showcase his full potential.

However, we've been encouraged by his race pace, particularly in Las Vegas where he demonstrated his ability to compete at the front when his car is performing to his liking. It was also a return to the form that has characterised him in the past.

Hamilton expressed some reservations regarding certain aspects of those qualifying runs.

He has struggled primarily when attempting to isolate that very last fraction of something is being extracted.

It's been a challenge to navigate without the brakes locking up, and avoiding snap-out on exiting, these are the main difficulties I've faced.

The team believes that they need to provide Lewis with a car that is more suited to his driving style, much like the one he had in Vegas, where he could operate at his best strength.

While several drivers have struggled with this particular model of ground-effect car, Shovlin does not believe that this is the primary issue at hand.

He considers the difficulty of altering engine settings by easing off on the gas has been particularly significant, but posing the risk of overheating the rear tires.

I believe that the main challenge with rear tyres today is more about managing heat they generate. Typically, if you approach a corner with temperatures high in the rear tyres, or if you're forced to execute a turn while accelerating, you will find it more difficult to handle the situation.

The braking style of Magnussen and Ricciardo may have been a factor in all of this, but I'm not well informed enough about them to determine whether that was the cause of their respective issues.

Actually, the primary focus during a single lap is to prevent excessive heat buildup in the rear tyres, which is crucial at around one to two thirds of the entire circuit.

Russell's ability to outperform the W15 simulation typically suggests that their respective driving styles might be contributing to the disparity in results.

Shovlin deemed it unclear why Russell seemed to overcome the qualifying challenges more effectively.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 2019 Car

Image captured by Glenn Dunbar, Motorsport Images.

When inquired as to whether there was an insight that could be gleaned from the data, Shovlin responded, "In terms of style or approach, there isn't a direct explanation, simply because Lewis is intelligent enough to recognize that if something is benefiting George, he can develop his driving strategy accordingly."

"When you approach the limit, you'll begin to notice oversteer as you try to push harder. That's when you truly experience the vehicle's dynamics playing out, at maximum cornering force.

On occasion, Lewis might struggle more in that regard than George, but our focus this year has been on fine-tuning the car so it caters to Lewis's needs, enabling him to push it to its limits without encountering those issues.

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