Mercedes will again test the floor upgrade it has struggled to get working since Spa back-to-back with an older version in opening practice for Formula 1’s 2024 Italian Grand Prix.
The Silver Arrows unleashed its latest floor development on the eve of this season’s summer break at the Belgian race, but did not race with it at Spa after encountering confusing results regarding drag levels there. Then at last week’s Dutch GP, it decided to press on with it added to both W15s following a similar back-to-back comparison in opening practice at Zandvoort.
But after Mercedes conceded “we don't fully know” how the new floor was really performing – per team technical director James Allison – in the Zandvoort weekend where it struggled more than expected having won at Spa, it has opted to evaluate further how its new and older floors perform in Friday afternoon’s FP1 session at Monza.
In that session, Andrea Kimi Antonelli is making his F1 weekend debut in George Russell’s car.
Russell was asked about Mercedes’ Zandvoort problems as the Monza weekend kicked off and revealed that in addition to still needing answers for the floor questions, his team has concluded that “one of the changes we made to the car – that was probably was not quite the direction we wanted to go [for best car performance last weekend].”
He added: “But it wasn't quite that obvious in the moment, during the race weekend, and it was only afterwards when we did the analysis.
“It's sort of like ‘right, that's the area where we lost out and we need to avoid that at all costs moving forward’.”
Russell said Monza “will be another good opportunity to test” the Spa floor, which he insists was not solely responsible for Mercedes’ performance dipping compared to its McLaren and Red Bull rivals – having beaten both without it in Belgium.
“Ultimately, when you bring an upgrade to the car, you're talking a tenth or two maximum, but a performance can swing by a number of tenths race to race,” he added.
“So, if you have an off weekend, which coincides with an upgrade, people are very quick to say, ‘it must be the upgrade’. But if you do six races in a row of the same package, your performance can fluctuate by half a second compared to your rivals.
“I'm confident the floor is working as we expect. And I think the problems we faced in Zandvoort weren't due to the upgrade.
“Now, we've got another opportunity this weekend, and maybe we conclude something different after Monza. But I'm confident it's working as we think it is.”
