George Russell has expressed once again his frustration with Mercedes' 2024 challenger, labeling the Brackley's squad's W15 the “most inconsistent car” the team has ever produced.
After achieving three wins over the summer – in Austria, Britain and Belgium – Mercedes' competitiveness appeared to have made a significant step forward, only for its car to seemingly regress relative to its rivals in the back half of F1's campaign.
A series of upgrades, including a new floor introduced in Spa, left the team with more questions than answers, while Russell and teammate Lewis Hamilton were left with an unpredictable car on their hands.
This was on full display recently with both drivers suffering uncharacteristic crashes and incidents that further highlighted their car's handling issues.
Heading into this weekend's Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Russell and Hamilton are both expected to run with a new floor design that was tweaked after Hamilton's race in Mexico.
But rather than a major overhaul, the changes are incremental, designed to help the team gather data and better understand the W15's confusing behavior.
Russell was candid about his frustrations with the W15's lack of consistency, drawing a stark comparison to the porpoising struggles suffered by Mercedes in 2022.
"I think in 2022, in the sort of porpoising era, without a doubt that was far more unpleasant," Russell explained.
"But because of the nature of those cars, it was far difficult to get close to the limit because you're literally jumping around every single corner, and you knew that it was going to bite you.
"The problem we've got with this car at the moment is you think it's not going to bite you, and you can achieve a really great lap. And then suddenly nothing changes, or you feel nothing changes, and the following lap you lose all of that performance.
"So without a doubt this is probably the most inconsistent our performance has been as a team in probably forever."
Despite the inconsistencies, Mercedes remains committed to pushing the limits of the W15. The team is introducing minor revisions to the car's floor in Brazil, aiming to improve stability and predictability.
However, Russell acknowledges that the team is still grappling with understanding the car's behavior.
“We're both going to be on the updated floor,” Russell confirmed. “We've got a small difference in specification as a bit of a trial, but it's not an update as such.
“It's just in the realms of normal aerodynamical testing.”
This approach is part of Mercedes' effort to assess even the smallest changes to the car in a bid to improve its performance consistency.
Another factor Mercedes will need to consider in Brazil is the impact of the newly resurfaced Interlagos track. The darker asphalt is expected to increase track temperatures, which could further exacerbate the W15's sensitivity to heat.
"The color of the tarmac has an impact, so the darker the color, the hotter the temperature," he said.
"On the flip side, it's a very smooth surface, so the tires will be able to probably run hotter and be penalized less because it's so smooth. That's the theory.
"But we don't know if it's going to be good for us or bad for us.”
The Briton remains wary of drawing conclusions, recalling how in Austin's varying conditions Mercedes went from fighting for pole on Friday to suffering a series of setbacks on Saturday.
“Austin was the best example,” he added. “Friday qualifying, we're both fighting for pole. Saturday qualifying, Lewis is out in Q1, I end up on the wall and nothing has changed."
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