Mercedes W15 set to surface at Silverstone as Brackley springs for revolution

Mercedes’ eagerly-awaited W15 will be revealed to the world at Silverstone on Wednesday morning, the car with which Brackley hopes to restore pride.

Having endured their first winless season since 2011 in 2023, Mercedes has instigated plenty of change for this year as the team aims to strike back with a vengeance following just one victory in the past two seasons.

With James Allison returning to the role of technical director midway through last year, slotting back in place of the now-departed Mike Elliott, the W15 marks a new design path for Mercedes after abandoning the concept explored with the W13 and W14.

What time will Mercedes launch the 2024 W15?

Mercedes’ 2024 F1 car, the W15, will be launched at Silverstone via a digital-only reveal on the team’s YouTube channel.

The car will be shaken down with a filming day on the circuit, with photography of the car – which will be driven by Lewis Hamilton and George Russell – released by the team over the course of the day.

The W15 will likely be Hamilton’s final Mercedes F1 car, as he departs for Ferrari in 2025 – the seven-time World Champion won six of his seven titles with Mercedes in his long tenure of over 10 years between 2013 and 2024.

The launch can also be watched live right here on PlanetF1.com – the event will kick off at 10.15am GMT on Wednesday morning and can be watched via the video link at the bottom of this page.

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Mercedes confident in 2024 innovation

Allison, who recently signed a multi-year extension to remain with Mercedes, has spoken candidly about the fact the W15 will mark a different design philosophy compared to the two most recent iterations.

With a revolutionary approach taken to W15, having dropped the ‘zeropod’ concept, Allison said the new car won’t necessarily be heading down the same direction as the Red Bull design – the concept towards which most teams seem to be converging.

“I think most people will be iterating down a similar sort of avenue,” he told Motorsport.com last month.

“But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for innovation at all.

“These cars, and it is no secret, run super-near the ground and that’s where they get their best performance.

“But there is also the ground there, so it is just trying to figure out how you can reliably, precisely, and in an informed way, place the car at a point above the ground that you know will be survivable from a skid legality point of view, but will also give you every bit of downforce that the car is capable of offering.”

“There is plenty of action there still.”

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