Mercedes planning another floor specification for Austin

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has confirmed that the team is planning to introduce yet another floor upgrade at next month’s US Grand Prix in Austin as part of the Brackley squad’s ongoing efforts to resolve the balance issues impacting its W15 car.

A floor update was initially tested at the Belgian Grand Prix but was shelved after the opening day of practice. It was then tried again at Zandvoort and at Monza, with mixed results.

At last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Mercedes dismissed the new floor outright and reverted to the element’s original specification.

While Russell finished on the podium in Baku, mainly thanks to circumstances, the results were inconclusive, and the balance issues persisted.

“The track is an outlier,” commented Wolff after the race in Baku as he revealed Mercedes’ plans.

“Nevertheless, it’s not like this was night and day. We still suffered from the same balance performance that we had on the new floor.

“So in Singapore we have the same one. That’s what we shipped over. And we need to race that. But from Austin onwards, we will probably go to a new spec.”

• Read also: Hamilton struggled with ‘worst balance ever’ in Azerbaijan GP

When pressed about whether the new specification would address the issues seen in Baku, Wolff remained cautious.

"I think we need to go over the data,” he said. “So you’re going for new, new when the new didn’t work properly, but the old one doesn’t work either. So it’s either old new, or new new. We don’t know yet."

Mercedes' 2024 season has been difficult to predict, with varying results across different circuits. Wolff pointed out that the team has shown flashes of strong performance, particularly in qualifying sessions, but race-day results have been harder to come by.

“You look at the qualifying performances that we had, where we first and second in Silverstone and we were first with Lewis in Spa,” he explained. “So there was much more performance in qualifying and in the race.

“But between those eight cars, it can swing that way, because we’re not talking about tons of time. We’re talking about two or three tenths in either direction, then you have an outlier like Leclerc in Baku or in Monza, where they’ve always been strong.

“So as a matter of fact, this is about who is getting the balance as good as possible, and who is having the tyres in the right window, and what kind of aero concept works well at a given track.

“I will be quite curious to see what happens after Singapore. Ferrari was really strong there last year. So I have no doubt that it’s the third in the row where they can race for the win.

“Red Bull wasn’t last year. We were doing okay. McLaren was doing okay. So it’s four teams now that are very close.”

As for Mercedes' own expectations for the rest of the season, Wolff was realistic about their prospects.

"Where we’ve traditionally been fast was Barcelona, Silverstone, Spa at times. Austin was a good one for us. Brazil was a good one for us. Not so many good ones left!

“But the pattern in Ferrari is every year the same, whether they are going for a championship win or not. It’s those five tracks where they are exceptional, and the driver is exceptional.”

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