‘Very bold moves’ and ‘intense choices’ - Mercedes’ W15 analysed by ex-F1 racer

Ex-F1 driver Romain Grosjean believes Mercedes have made some “very intense choices” and “very bold moves” with the development of their 2024 challenger.

Mercedes unveiled a revamped W15 that differed greatly in appearance from its two predecessors last week at Silverstone, featuring a revised sidepod design and a new push-rod rear suspension layout.

Lewis Hamilton’s final Mercedes F1 car has been labelled as the “most good-looking” on the grid by Grosjean, who has heaped praise on the team’s designers.

“I think it is the car, with the Red Bull, I’m the most intrigued to see on track,” Grosjean said on his YouTube channel.

“I think there’s some very bold moves. There are some very bold decisions made on the car. Look at that front wing and that big scoop. It does remind me a lot of the 2006 F1 cars that I used to be in love with… and then those sidepods.

“They went for very small entry to get as much as much flow as they can under the sidepods.”

Grosjean is particularly “excited” about the design of the W15’s front wing, which he says is “very intense”.

“But I’m very excited about that front wing, very excited about that sidepod entry, the front wing design, with a lot of very different plate sizes, flap sizes,” the Frenchman added.

“That front wing is very intense. Very, very loaded, so they must be very confident in the rear downforce because there’s one thing that is very easy to do in Formula 1, is create a lot of front downforce – you just put on a big front wing and you’re going to have all the downforce in the world you want.

“But every flow of air that hits a Formula 1 car hits the front wing first, so if the air doesn’t go exactly what you’re planning on getting it after it hits the front wing, you are not going to go anywhere – and that is a key element in every Formula 1 car.

“I must admit they are very, very intense choices on that car, and I’m excited to see what it does.

“I’m really hoping to see Mercedes back fighting at the front with Ferrari, with Red Bull, with Aston Martin, with McLaren, with anyone basically, I want everyone to be fighting.

“But I think in terms of everything we’ve seen, everyone seems to be quite conventional to the points that’s on a Mercedes that is very different and very unique.”