Mercedes presented the last car that Hamilton will use before going to Ferrari – – 2024-02-17 15:56:26

The presentation of the teams continues for the new Formula 1 season and one of the most anticipated teams on the grid was Mercedes. After the news of Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari in 2025, all eyes were on what the last car that the seven-time world champion will race with the Silver Arrows would be like.

This is how, one day after the announcement of the Prancing Horse, the team of the iconic German brand showed the W15, the car with which Mercedes will seek to make a leap in quality in its quest to once again fight for the championship with Red Bull. In that sense, the team based in Brackley, United Kingdom, heeded the requests that Hamilton himself had requested in recent seasons.

In addition, it showed a renewed design, since both in the nose and in the sector where the drivers go, the car again has the predominant color silver, characteristic of the brand and which it had left a few years ago for black in its entirety. . The main sponsor (Petronas) accompanies it with some edging of the sponsor’s green.

After the first images, and after the analysis of the car, the Motorsport Latam media indicated in its report that the cockpit (space where the driver is located) was delayed in the structure of the vehicle. That had been one of the British runner’s requirements, since he complained on several occasions that he was too far ahead. What is the objective of the change?

“Redistribute the weights according to a more classic canon,” indicated the portal that specializes in the motor world. What’s more, they even indicated that it could be “tens of centimeters” that were moved, something that marks a central modification of the current car with the previous ones.

Another change is in the fuel tank, something that Ferrari also made. The tank is wider and, together with this modification to the body, the new Mercedes could improve aerodynamic planning. According to the media report, one of the several problems that the previous versions (W13 and W14) had were problems with the DRS to overtake rivals in corners.

For the new Mercedes W15, the engineers led by James Allison, technical director of the team, worked on a new rear wing so that the “DRS effect”, a device that reduces aerodynamic loads and increases the speed of the car for overtaking (Drag Reduction), System that allows), is key for Hamilton and Russell in their fight to become competitive behind the wheel again.

“It is not just an aerodynamic change, but many mechanical changes to make a car faster and more predictable for the drivers. We will see in Bahrain if we have achieved it,” said Toto Wolff in the statement that accompanied the presentation of the team.

“We know we have a mountain to climb to fight on the front lines. There are no miracles in this sport,” she highlighted. “But our ambition and determination are strong. Since this new course was charted, development has progressed well. We had several items on our priority list for this car. “We will soon see if we have taken the step we were looking for,” said the Austrian, Mercedes team leader.