Mercedes believes that it is now on course to put the cornering inconsistencies it has encountered with its 2024 Formula 1 car “to bed” across the upcoming rounds.
The marque entered the term with renewed optimism as it debuted a revamped car concept that was designed to eradicate the recalcitrant traits of its predecessors.
However, Mercedes has endured a challenging start to the campaign with zero podiums from the opening six races seeing it sit fourth in the Constructors’ standings.
But Mercedes introduced a revised floor in Miami last time out and has brought additional upgrades this weekend, which include further refinements to the floor area.
Mercedes Technical Director James Allison is convinced the team has begun to get a grasp on its W15 challenger amid an encouraging start to proceedings at Imola.
“Well, I’m not sure that I’ve noticed too much of the up, but I think after a pretty uninspiring start, we are starting to get to grips with it a little bit,” Allison said.
“Today was a better day thus far. Let’s see if we can sustain that through the important parts of the weekend.”
Asked whether he had seen improvement from the various new parts during the opening practice hour, Allison replied: “I’d say cautiously yes, but it’s a gradual thing.”
Allison, who returned to his current role last term as Mike Elliott resigned, is hopeful that Mercedes has understood its inherent flaws enough to avoid more setbacks.
“I don’t think it’s any more difficult for me than it is for all of us in the team,” he said.
“It’s always tough when a car isn’t where you want it to be. And that is not an enjoyable situation.
“On the other hand, once you do start to get your head around it and start to move it forward, that then becomes extremely pleasurable.
“So hopefully we’ve got the worst of the grim feeling behind us and are now on the upward slope of that.”
Mercedes has experienced recurring trouble with striking an optimal balance to ensure it is not compromising performance in either high-speed or low-speed corners.
But with Lewis Hamilton having teased more updates “in the pipeline”, Allison has revealed Mercedes is on track to correct that specific shortcoming in the next races.
“I think we’re gradually getting there,” he reiterated. “This track is probably one of the easier ones in that regard because the range of cornering speed is not that high.
“So it’s a thing that all of us face and I think we’ve been a little slower than others to address it.
“But I think that you’ll see over the coming races that will be a thing that increasingly we put to bed.”
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