Mercedes’ much-anticipated 2024 F1 car made its track debut with a brief demonstration run at Silverstone.
Mercedes’ brand-new W15 F1 car has made its track debut at Silverstone with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton serving as shakedown drivers.
Hamilton and Russell both made fleeting cameos driving the redesigned Mercedes W15 for the first time on Wednesday morning at the British Grand Prix venue with Russell being the first to take command of the brand-new car.
The new Mercedes W15 covered only 15 kilometers around the short international Silverstone circuit in what was referred to as a “demo day.”
The W15 will experience its first official track day on Tuesday in a 200-kilometer filming day in Bahrain, one day before pre-season testing gets underway at the same venue.
Hamilton will drive Mercedes’ 2024 challenger as his final car with the Brackley-based outfit before making a shocking move to Ferrari in 2025.
Mercedes is hoping that the W15, which features a new chassis and gearbox, will be the contender that gets it back to winning races and battling for championships following two disappointing seasons during the ground effects era.
The W15 additionally sports classic Mercedes silver to commemorate Mercedes’ 90th anniversary, which is a slight change from the black livery that was reintroduced for 2023.
Technical Director James Allison, who took up his position once more in the spring of last year, did not have much control over the struggling W14—the first Mercedes since the W02 of 2011 to finish without a Grand Prix win—but he was fully incharge of designing the 2024 F1 car.
When the W14 was first being shaken down a year ago, Hamilton said thereafter that the team had disregarded his input on the zero sidepod design and that he had seen right away that the team would face a challenging season.
