Mercedes to return with their upgrades after summer break in Zandvoort 

After two back-to-back dull seasons, Mercedes-AMG has finally managed to make its 2024 race car, the W15, competitive enough to win races. Andrew Shovlin, trackside engineering director at the German outfit, has confirmed the return of upgrades at Zandvoort.

Among the top teams in Formula 1, Mercedes-AMG was the most affected by the regulation changes in 2022. They lacked both performance and aero-efficiency in the W13 and W14 cars, making it difficult for the Brackley, England-based team to compete against the likes of Red Bull Racing, Ferrari, and McLaren. The porpoising issue that plagued the eight-time constructor champion added to the damage.

However, with the help of crucial updates over two years, Mercedes has been looking more competitive since the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix. Despite the benefits of these upgrades, the team dialed them down at Silverstone and now at Spa.

During a post-race media interaction, Andrew Shovlin clarified the reason behind running the cars with older specs.

"The reason that we removed them, and we essentially reverted the car to the Silverstone spec on Friday night, was because we had a good race in Silverstone. Spa and Silverstone are not dramatically different circuits in terms of the corner speed range that you're dealing with. We'd clearly introduced some problems somewhere,” Shovlin said, explaining the situation.

“Going to that Silverstone car got it all back to normal. We've since had time to look at the data to understand what it was we did exactly and knowing that, we're pretty confident that we'll be going for a reintroduction in Zandvoort,” He further added.

The same was shared via an X post by a Mercedes-AMG fan page:

With three wins (Austria, Great Britain, and Belgium) in the last four races, Mercedes-AMG is well-positioned to challenge the front-runners in the second half of the 2024 Formula 1 season.

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A look at Mercedes-AMG's comeback to the front of the Formula 1 field in the 2024 season

At the start of the 2024 Formula 1 season, Mercedes-AMG was the third-fastest team, trailing behind its primary rivals, Red Bull Racing and Ferrari. This was evident in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

The German outfit managed to score 16 and 10 points, respectively, in the first two races, with Lewis Hamilton finishing seventh and ninth, and George Russell ending in fifth and sixth place.

The team's outing in Australia was the worst, with both drivers DNFing. Performance remained largely the same in Japan, China, Miami, Emilia-Romagna, and Monaco, where the team scored 8, 18, 12, 15, and 17 points, respectively.

However, results began improving with Mercedes-AMG bringing crucial upgrades to the Canadian Grand Prix, scoring 28 points (Hamilton finished fourth and George ended third). Since then, the Brackley-based outfit has been consistently able to challenge for podiums and wins.

Highlights of the team season were the races in Austria, Great Britain, and Belgium, where they scored 45 points (Hamilton fourth, Russell first), 25 points (Hamilton first, Russell DNF), and 25 points (Hamilton first, Russell disqualified due to underweight car), respectively.