Mercedes car ‘designed around Lewis Hamilton’ as George Russell lifts lid on development

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are feeling more positive about Mercedes’ 2024 challenger after two difficult seasons.

George Russell has offered an insight into the W15’s development (Image: Getty)

George Russell has explained that the W15 has been ‘designed around the wishes’ of Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion was extremely frustrated with the development decisions made with the W13 and W14 but should have more suitable machinery for his final season as a Mercedes driver.

Toto Wolff knows heading into the 2024 campaign that Mercedes must find significant performance gains relative to Red Bull if they are to bring the fight to Max Verstappen before the end of the current technical regulation period in 2025. Trusting Hamilton’s insight will give the Brackley-based team the best chance of doing so.

Explaining the impact that he and Hamilton had on the development of the W15, Russell explained: “Lewis and I have put out a huge amount of work into helping steer the team in the direction we want to go.

“Obviously with Lewis’ experience, the car has been designed around his wishes with the car being sat further rearwards than we were last year, the Red Bull-esque sidepods on the side and a slightly different steering rack.

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Lewis Hamilton spearheaded the development of the W15 (Image: Getty)

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“So, it’s good that the team have sort of been listening to that, but we need to see if that translates into lap time. I think we hit the ground in a good place. But ultimately, there’s only one thing that matters, and that’s the lap time.”

One of the major changes made by Mercedes was to shift the cockpit further backwards. This was something that Hamilton was particularly keen on as it suited his driving style much more than the advanced cockpit positioning of the W13 and W14.

“I’m happy with the changes that were pushed into this car and I think as any driver you just need to adapt to whatever you’re given,” Russell continued. “We’re sitting further rearwards this season. For me, it’s a small change, not better, not worse.”

Mercedes were not the only team to opt for a major overhaul of their design philosophy ahead of the 2024 campaign. Red Bull took elements of the previous two Silver Arrows cars when putting together their new challenger, while Ferrari also made significant changes.

Aston Martin and McLaren both produced more familiar-looking concepts, but the VCARB, Sauber and Williams cars represented almost revolutionary designs for the three teams in question.