Mercedes unveiled their W15 F1 car this week with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in attendance.
Mercedes could face backlash for their innovative new front-wing design, as the FIA have been tipped to initiate ‘discussions’ with the Silver Arrows by F1 technical expert Craig Scarborough. Toto Wolff and co have been hard at work during the off-season with the simple aim of closing the gap to Red Bull.
Since the introduction of ground-effect design regulations in 2022, Mercedes have failed to keep pace with Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell struggled to gel with the ‘zero sidepod’ design and Wolff conceded early last season that the team would begin heading in a different direction.
Those claims finally materialised on Wednesday when Mercedes launched their brand new F1 car – the W15 – which, on the surface, appears much more conventional than their previous efforts.
But their ‘cheeky’ front wing could make Hamilton and Russell trickier for rival cars to follow by reintroducing ‘outwash’, which the latest set of design regulations were brought in to stamp out.
I call it the 3.1 wing, because it’s not a three-element wing and it’s not a four-element wing,” Scarborough told Peter Windsor’s YouTube channel. “So if you’ve got about point one of a wing there somewhere, and as I can read the regulations, it’s legal.
“I’m sure the other teams will have looked at these ideas previously and have discounted them, but I think there will be some discussion about this amongst the FIA, F1 and the teams saying: ‘If this is introducing outwash, is this something we want in the sport again? Haven’t we worked so hard to kind of get rid of the problems of cars following each other?’
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“So I think that while it isn’t a big performance differentiator for the W15, I think it is something that will just kind of capture people’s imagination and start to get [them] talking.
“I’m sure there’ll be some conspiracy theories and bits and pieces with people saying that it’s illegal, but as far as I can see, it’s a cheeky, but permissible way of playing with the front wing.”
Last season, both Hamilton and Russell failed to achieve a victory in any Grand Prix due to Red Bull’s overwhelming dominance.
In 2024, Mercedes’ boss, Wolff, will be eager to demonstrate improvement and assert his position before Hamilton, his esteemed driver, departs for Ferrari.
Max Verstappen, the reigning three-time world champion, has the opinion that Hamilton, his long-time rival, might face a challenging season due to the early announcement of his move to Ferrari.