Mercedes F1’s continued struggles highlight their inability to decode the complexities of the ground effect era in modern Formula 1.
Mercedes F1 has yet to succeed, after three years under ground effect regulations, in producing a car capable of delivering predictable performance.
At times very fast, at others very slow, the W15 appears to follow the same trend as the W13 and W14, even though it is now closer to the top of the grid.
This inconsistency deeply frustrates Lewis Hamilton, eager to end his Mercedes F1 chapter on a high note. George Russell, who has fared slightly better, is less critical than his teammate.
Asked about what he believes is the issue plaguing Mercedes F1’s season, Steiner stated the team has not understood ground effect cars.
“They’ve won three races this year. Then they said, ‘Oh, now we know what we need.’ And in the next race, they didn’t. That means they don’t get it.”
“Toto (Wolff) has said several times this year, ‘We now understand what we need to do’ and similar things. But they haven’t. The others don’t have such large variations from one track to another, from one setup to another.”
When asked where he thinks the problem lies, Steiner replied: “If I knew, Toto would pay me for it. If they don’t understand it, how could I?”
“I think these ground effect cars are so difficult to grasp, with the correlation between the wind tunnel and the track being tricky. That’s the key. You find something in the wind tunnel, figure out how to apply it to the car, but when you put it on the car, it doesn’t behave as expected—or at least as you thought it would.”
“It depends heavily on the ride height you use. When we talk about it, it sounds too simple. If they could figure it out… I mean, they could figure it out, but that’s what McLaren understood when they introduced their first big update in 2023. Since then, their car has worked as intended; they know exactly what to look for in the wind tunnel.”
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Mercedes F1 Fails to Master Ground Effect Era Mercedes F1 Fails to Master Ground Effect Era
