F1 News: Toto Wolff encouraged by early W15 feedback

Toto Wolff smiles wearing Mercedes gear — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Testing 2024

Wolff encouraged by early W15 feedback

The team boss will be hoping for a more consistent year in 2024

Tyler Rowlinson

Thursday 22 February 2024 09:12

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has said that he feels encouraged by the W15 after early showings in Bahrain.

The new 2024 challenger took to the track in its first official run in the morning session on Wednesday, with George Russell piloting the car to sixth fastest, over one and a half seconds down on Max Verstappen – and he also took part in the afternoon session.

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Mercedes will be hoping for consistency in 2024 after a difficult couple of years in the ground effect era with just one win in the last two seasons, coming from Russell in Brazil in 2022.

The W15 got its first official outing in the Wednesday morning session in Bahrain

George Russell piloted the car in both of Wednesday's sessions

Lewis Hamilton will take part in the Thursday sessions

Wolff encouraged by early W15 showing

Wolff has previously said that he is optimistic about the new season, and speaking at the lunchtime press conference after the Wednesday morning session, he suggested that he had seen some encouraging signs from the new machine.

"The mood in the camp is positive," he said.

"We had a car [in 2023] that was a handful and difficult to understand sometimes why it was doing what it was doing.

"That has been the emphasis for this season to have a stable platform from we can actually develop onwards. Let's see if we have that.

"It's very difficult to say. We had a filming day yesterday and some aero running this morning, so not relevant lap times, but so far the feedback from the drivers was 'yeah, this is something we can work with' so that is encouraging."

Lewis Hamilton will make his first appearance in pre-season testing as he pilots the W15 in both sessions on Thursday.

Max Verstappen Mercedes George Russell Toto Wolff