Mercedes, rather surprisingly, emerged as the best team in Las Vegas last weekend. George Russell won his second race of the season, with Lewis Hamilton driving brilliantly to finish P2 after starting from 10th on the grid. But how? That was what many were left wondering.
The answer was simply because of the outlier setup and characteristics of the W15 that worked perfectly with the cold weather in the Sin City. However, there was another reason.
Las Vegas’ street circuit opening to the public after each of F1’s sessions leading up to qualifying and the race played a key role in helping the Silver Arrows secure a seamless 1-2 finish.
The Race’s Scott Mitchell-Malm discussed the same in a recent segment. “Mercedes has expected cool conditions to help them. Because they were similarly quick at Montreal, Silverstone, and Spa.”, he said.
Mercedes were simply unbeatable in Vegas
Running information after the team’s 60th 1-2 finish as a constructor was the icing on the cake! #F1 #LasVegasGP @MercedesAMGF1 pic.twitter.com/org3nxjCnT
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 25, 2024
“There was rapid track evolution as the grip built up, but it was always on the low side. And it kept resetting a little every day because the Vegas roads get opened up every time F1’s done for the night”.
Mitchell-Malm further highlighted how the inconsistent track evolution hampered the tire warmups for all teams except for Mercedes. Ferrari and McLaren, who would otherwise be comfortable front-runners, experienced how their tires were ‘floating’ on the track surface rather than ‘digging into it’, causing a lack of grip.
Even before the Grand Prix, it made Mercedes the fastest as Russell qualified on the pole, with only an error from Hamilton limiting him to a P10 finish. The F1 journalist added that others could have caught up to Mercedes, had the tire degradation and graining not restricted them massively.
Will Mercedes carry their Las Vegas form into the last two races?
In short, no. It is unlikely that Mercedes will compete for wins in Qatar and Abu Dhabi because the conditions would be drastically different. Being venues in the Middle East, the temperatures won’t be nearly as cold as they were in Vegas, even though it is winter.
The track layout of the Lusail International Circuit in particular could throw some technical challenges at the Brackley-based outfit. With long-range, medium, and high-speed corners, the W15’s lack of smooth handling could restrict its progress in Qatar.
On top of that, Mercedes has struggled with multiple floor specifications not providing an ideal solution to take a step forward in performance. While these floors are helping them generate good downforce, it is not correlating with their on-track performance, hinting at some other missing pieces in the puzzle.
So, Mercedes may have to take a back seat in these last two race weekends unless they find some stop-gap solution to do well. McLaren is tipped to dominate the Qatar GP, based on last year’s reference. Meanwhile, Ferrari could join them in Abu Dhabi to make it a two-horse race.
