Mercedes put the W15 through its paces for the first time during pre-season testing in Bahrain on Wednesday.

Toto Wolff has revealed that Lewis Hamilton and George Russell believe that the W15 is something that they ‘can work with’ after the first day of pre-season testing in Bahrain. Both drivers were often left frustrated with the team’s previous two challengers with performance varying dramatically on a weekend-to-weekend basis.

The Silver Arrows ended the 2023 campaign with a second-place Constructors’ Championship finish after some heroics from George Russell in Abu Dhabi, but they also finished the year without a Grand Prix victory for the first time in a decade with Hamilton also unable to end his winless streak.

However, after two years of frustration, the Brackley-based team have opted for a complete overhaul of their design philosophy over the winter with the W15 representing a fresh design from the team as they look to hunt down Red Bull at the front of the field.

Speaking during the afternoon press conference in Bahrain on Wednesday, Wolff explained: “The mood in the camp is positive. We had a car [in 2023] that was a handful and difficult to understand sometimes why it was doing what it was doing. That has been the emphasis for this season to have a stable platform from we can actually develop onwards.

Mercedes launch their 2024 F1 car for Lewis Hamilton’s last season with the team

Toto Wolff is feeling more optimistic ahead of the 2024 F1 season (Image: Getty)Become an Express Premium member

“Let’s see if we have that. It’s very difficult to say. We had a filming day yesterday and some aero running this morning, so not relevant lap times, but so far the feedback from the drivers was ‘yeah, this is something we can work with’ so that is encouraging.”

Unfortunately for Mercedes and Hamilton, Verstappen and Red Bull’s performance will be a major cause for concern heading into the second day of pre-season testing. The reigning world champion spent nearly all of the eight hours of track time at the top of the leaderboard in a worrying reminder of last season’s dominance.

In the Mercedes garage, there was little room for glory runs in Russell’s programme. The 25-year-old spent the day running the C3 tyre as he gathered data for the team ahead of Hamilton’s running on the second day of the test on Thursday.

The legendary Brit is preparing for his 12th and final season as a Mercedes driver and is looking to end their iconic partnership in style, bringing a record-breaking eighth Drivers’ Championship title back to Brackley before he departs for rivals Ferrari in 2025.