How Mercedes overturned their worst start to an F1 season in over a decade

Andrew Shovlin has revealed how Mercedes transformed their W15 F1 car after making their worst start to a season in over a decade.

Mercedes endured a miserable start to the year, failing to finish on the podium in the opening eight rounds.

It meant it was Mercedes’ worst start to a campaign since 2011 - where they didn’t finish on the podium all season.

However, upgrades in Miami and then Monaco transformed the W15 into being a serious contender at the front of the field.

Speaking to select media including Crash.net at the Belgian Grand Prix, Shovlin shed light into how Mercedes turned things around.

“We didn't really bring developments to the early races of the year, so we started to pull forward developments with a new floor in Miami,” he explained.

“We then pulled forward a front wing that was due later in the season. We had one on George's car in Monaco. I think by that point, you could see that we had a car that was definitely one that you could work with and improve around that time of Monaco.

“And then what we have seen since then, is a pretty impressive delivery of updates to every single track. As you as you sort of solve problems with the handling of the car the challenge actually becomes simple and you get more clarity about what you want to do next.

“In the early part of the year we had a car, that its behaviour will change wildly with relatively small swings in track condition. in Jeddah we were bouncing badly in the high speed corners. It’s quite hard to unpick all those issues.”

While Mercedes have enjoyed an upturn in performance, winning three of the last four races, Red Bull and McLaren appear to have an advantage at most tracks.

The W15 appears to perform best in cooler conditions - or low drag circuits.

“If you look at tracks like Budapest, you'd say, we're still putting too much temperature in the rear tyres,” he added. “And there's also just an element that we need to find a bit more base performance.

“But I think the problems that you're dealing with, as the car has got quicker, have also become easier to see.”

Mercedes have spent the last two seasons struggling relative to the front-running teams.

Despite finishing third and second in the constructors’ championship, Mercedes could never challenge Red Bull in the same way Ferrari did in 2022 or McLaren in the last 12 months.

Shovlin now believes Mercedes are finally on the right path after an unimpressive baseline at the start of the season.

“Well, baseline wasn't very good,” he explained. “I think we've done a good job of understanding the issues and getting on top of them. We’ve clearly got a reasonable route for finding performance now.

“The frustration is it was the third year in a row where we launched a car that wasn't as good as we needed it to be. But again, we've learned a lot through this process.

“And given that the recent developments have been successful at bringing the performance we hoped, and next year's car is likely to be a close cousin of this year’s car, we’re now more confident that we can carry this momentum into next year, more so than we have been in the previous years.”