Mercedes abandons its new flat-bottom design for the Belgian Grand Prix
Mercedes had shown good form at Silverstone and were hoping to repeat this performance at the Belgian circuit. Friday's disappointment led to speculation that the new updates, including the floor, could be responsible for the problems encountered.
Mercedes has decided to give up its new floor for the rest of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, following doubts about its performance revealed during Friday’s practice sessions. The team based in Brackley had a tough first day at Spa-Francorchamps, with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton not managing to feel fully comfortable with their W15. Both drivers finished the day more than a second off the pace, a performance far below expectations.
Despite efforts to adjust the settings throughout the day, Mercedes remained puzzled by the significant loss of performance on the straights of the circuit, where the gap reached up to 0.9 seconds compared to direct competitors.
During engineering meetings at the end of the day and after having worked in the simulator and at the factory during the night, no clear conclusion was drawn regarding the contribution of the new floor to these difficulties. As a result, Mercedes has chosen to revert to the old specification for Saturday morning tests.
Difficulties related to the budget ceiling
This decision was reinforced by weather forecasts indicating rainy conditions, which could further complicate the pilots’ task and increase the risk of accidents, thus putting the availability of spare parts to the test.
Although Mercedes has temporarily reverted to an old version of the floor, the team plans to analyze the performance in the upcoming races to determine if Friday’s issues were truly due to this component or other factors.
Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes engineering director, had expressed optimism before the tests: The main novelty is the floor. It’s just another development step that we were able to bring here. It’s also nice to have new parts on the car, because with the reality of the budget cap, we are constantly fixing them. Hopefully, this will be a step forward.
As the team prepares to assess the situation before the next race, the priority now is to resolve performance issues and adapt to the changing conditions of the weekend at Spa.
