Mercedes F1 Ditches Draggy Gearbox Design for W15: Reports
Mercedes is looking to bring major changes for the 2024 season to its F1 car, the W15, to make the car worthy of winning the championship again.
The last three F1 seasons had been pretty disappointing and bad for Mercedes, which saw them losing their almost-deserved F1 crown to the Austrian Red Bull team in the 2021 F1 championship due to a ruckus in the last race of that season and falling so far behind in the 2023 championship standings, where Red Bull had dominated single-handedly.
In the 2022 season, they finished 3rd in the championship rankings after Red Bull and Ferrari. They seemed to be very hopeful for 2023, but with a slow start and Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s utter dominance, they soon started falling behind in the championship and finished the season with a staggering 451 points behind Red Bull without even rabbing a single victory. They also went lagging behind throughout the entire season in the constructors championship.
As the new 2024 F1 season is around the corner, several rumors have it that the UK-based Silver Arrows is looking to make groundbreaking updates for the W15 car.
The major focus is possibly going to be to ditch that draggy gearbox design from the previous 2023 season. The draggy gearbox was the main reason, which hugely downgraded the struggling W14’s performance throughout the 2023 season. The decision to use a bulky transmission system in the W14 seemed to have created more drag and, as a result, had a very severe damaging impact on the car’s performance, contributing to the team’s low-key performance. The decision to use a bulky transmission in the W14 seemed to have induced more weight on the car and, as a result, had a detrimental impact on the car’s performance, contributing to the team’s subpar result.
All Formula One teams have the opportunity to review and update their designs during the impending winter break, and the Brackley-based team is taking advantage of this time to remove the limitations that have hampered them in the past.
Mercedes, one of the richest and best-ever teams in the history of Formula 1, is widely admired for its brilliance in engineering and technology. It is not only a great team; it is also a great constructor too. So the German team is looking to live up to its history and fame again after three ill-fated and disappointing seasons.
With new designs in mind, the Mercedes team is also looking to walk away from the previous year’s designs, which impacted the car’s performance terribly.
