George Russell advises Mercedes on how to fix W15 which is on “knife edge”

George Russell managed a sixth place finish at the 2024 Chinese GP.

George Russell advises Mercedes on how to fix W15 which is on “knife edge”

George Russell (via imago)

Mercedes have had an abysmal start to their 2024 Formula 1 season. The German manufacturer’s W15 seems to be a car that is supposedly on a ‘knife edge’ according to drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

The Brackley-based team is bringing upgrades to Miami to improve the W15’s performance. Following this, George Russell has shared how he thinks Mercedes can improve the performance and operating window of the lackluster W15.

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Toto Wolff after the Chinese GP dwelled on the issues with the W15.

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I think where the car is, and where Lewis's car was, was certainly far away from the optimum and it is driving on a knife-edge.
Toto Wolff during an interview with Motorsport

In relation to the above, George Russell had the following to share! 

I think we've understood enough so far that we just need to add downforce. We've changed philosophies and we've changed concepts quite a few times now over the last two years. My personal view is that no matter what concept you're on, you just need to have as much downforce as possible, and you'll deal with the limitations thereafter.
George Russell during an interview with Motorsport

The Briton believes that his team needs to go back and do basics and just add more downforce to the car to improve its overall driveability. A lot is riding on the upgrades that Mercedes are burning to Miami, only time will tell whether they’ll deliver.

George Russell reveals “cherry on top” after constant setup changes in China

During the Chinese Grand Prix, both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell spoke multiple times about the various setups they’ve tried out over the weekend. The seven-time World Champion even said how he regrets the changes he made from the sprint race.

George Russell
George Russell (Via: IMAGO)

But, after the weekend, Russell shared how the setup changes are just a cherry on top, and how Mercedes needs to fundamentally add more performance first to the W15. He added that there was not much of a performance improvement even after the setup changes.

We've had two different set-ups this weekend, both of which produced very similar lap times and performance . So, the work needs to be back at the factory and ultimately in F1, the more downforce you have, the faster you'll go. The set-up is the cherry on the cake.
George Russell during the same interview

The 26-year-old also shared that the main task at hand is not the team messing with the setup during race weekends but back at the factory where the team can work on improving the performance on the car. With the talk that there’s a problem with the simulator at Brackley, it will definitely be interesting to see how the upgrades at Miami will perform.

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