Big boost for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell as Mercedes seemingly hit the mark with ride height for their 2024 F1 challenger

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are working tirelessly with Mercedes to develop their new W15 car for the 2024 F1 season.

The Silver Arrows have struggled quite a lot ever since the FIA introduced new technical regulations in 2022. The two British drivers have collectively won only one race in nearly two years.

One of the main areas of concern for the once-dominant Mercedes team is ride height and porpoising. In 2022, Mercedes suffered from major porpoising issues, where the cars oscillated vertically due to certain kinds of aerodynamics. Out of all the cars on the grid, the Mercedes W13 pounded the most. This was dangerous for both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

The FIA stepped in and introduced a rule where every team needed to increase the ride height by 15mm to reduce this phenomenon. Mercedes, being a bit too cautious, raised their car more than that for the 2023 F1 season. This caused them to lose a lot in performance, which is gained by the underbody.

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are struggling to finish in the top three, let alone win a race. Hence, the team has shifted its focus from 2023 to 2024 to find a sweet spot for the ride height.

There is hope in the team that they will finally be able to extract maximum performance from the floor of the car. When Motorsport.com asked about pinpointing the issue, Mercedes chief technical officer Mike Elliott said:

"I like to think we've sort of gotten ourselves into the right place for the winter."

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Mercedes team boss on the performance gap between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell

It is safe to say that Lewis Hamilton has picked himself back up after the 2022 F1 season. In 2023, he has performed consistently better than his teammate, George Russell, who was much better in his debut season with Mercedes.

Team principal Toto Wolff himself is quite confused as to why this gap is forming. PlanetF1 quoted him as saying:

“I don’t know. These cars are on the knife’s edge. You can quickly fall off it and lose the confidence. On the other side, if you’re within that corridor of sweet spot…"

He added:

"Having said that, that car has no sweet spot! But being more in that zone of understanding what it will do next, I think there’s a big difference and you can quickly be in either one of these situations, and obviously it goes against you.”

As of now, Lewis Hamilton is fourth in the drivers' championship table with 148 points, while George Russell is in sixth with 99 points.