Mercedes Formula 1 trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin is confident that the Brackley team can maintain its current momentum in to 2025, helped by an internal reorganisation.
Mercedes worked for two and a half seasons to get on top of the current ground effect regulations. However, three wins in the past four races have indicated that it has now found a good direction with the W15.
Shovlin says that the team has learned a lot from dealing with its struggles, and that is reflected in changes to the organisation.
“The baseline wasn’t very good,” said Shovlin of the W15. “I think we’ve done a good job of getting on top while understanding the issues, and getting on top of them we’ve clearly got a reasonable route for finding performance now.
“The frustration is it was the third year in a row where we launched a car that wasn’t as good as we needed it to be. But we’ve learned a lot through this process.
“And given that the recent developments have been successful at bringing the performance we hoped, and next year’s car is likely to be a close cousin of this year’s car, we’re now more confident that we can carry this momentum into next year. More so than we have been in previous years.”
Shovlin admits that the years of struggling to understand and improve the car have not been easy for the team.
“That situation presents challenges both on the technical and the development side,” he said. “You need to understand the problem, and you need to try and find resolutions quickly that will bring performance.
“It also creates a challenge for everyone at the factories who are all working just as hard.
Whether you’re winning or running near the back, the workload doesn’t change.
“And keeping everyone motivated and reassuring them that we have got a direction to get back towards winning ways is one of the one of the key things. But it’s a situation that you just have to deal with.
“I think we’ve done a good job of maximising learning from the opportunity. Simultaneous with that, we’re restructuring the organisation to try and give us the best technical team and group functions to take us into the future.
“All you can do is try and make the most of the situation that’s in front of you. And it’s been a good recovery. But hopefully we’ll build on this base, rather than take a step back.”
Expanding on the specific reasons for the internal changes he said: “Elements like Loic Serra leaving the team and going to Ferrari, we’ve had to restructure the vehicle dynamics group.
“That was using an internal hire. But that’s working well, and that group is now functioning. They’re coming up with a lot of ideas.
“But you’re always looking at how the groups function, and how you want to manage those different resources.”
Shovlin acknowledged that the team has to prepare carefully for the 2026 rule changes.
“One of the things on our radar is in 2026 we’ve got a very, very different car, and very, very different power unit to the one that we’ve got now,” he said. “And simultaneously, we need to be developing a 2026 car and a 2025 car.
“So then you’re looking at who do we have focusing on which car? How do we want the groups to be structured, to be able to provide the resource to those two different projects?
“And so when I say restructure is it isn’t that we’re sort of changing one person in a role, thinking that they’re just going to be better than the person before them, it’s more that the whole management of those different functions is being revisited – with a view to that future challenge, and how can we develop more effectively.”
