Mercedes has revealed that the updates the team introduced at the United States Grand Prix last weekend will mark the last changes made to its 2024 Formula 1 car.
The German marque utilised the autumn break to finalise a considerable upgrade package that was bolted onto Lewis Hamilton and George Russell’s W15s in Austin.
READ MORE: McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull headline F1 US GP upgrades
Mercedes’ latest revisions didn’t deliver the upturn the team had been seeking as both drivers endured high-speed spins that Hamilton attributed to the developments.
However, Hamilton will have to make do with Mercedes’ car in its current guise over the five remaining events as it has no further components in the pipeline for 2024.
Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin has explained that subtle tweaks to the current package will be where it can make remaining improvements.
“We’ve brought pretty much everything we’re going to bring to the end of the year now,” Shovlin told media including Motorsport Week at the Circuit of the Americas.
“That’s not to say that in amongst the learning that you get we won’t be making further changes, but there are no major updates planned for us from here on in.”
Mercedes’ abandoned F1 floor explained
Among the updates Mercedes brought to Austin was an amended floor design intended to solve the issues that caused it to abandon an earlier version from Belgium.
Shovlin has explained how Mercedes made the choice to revert to a previous part for the Azerbaijan and Singapore Grands Prix double-header based on cost grounds.
“This is a new floor; we rolled back on the update, the Spa one, for the last two races,” he highlighted.
“Partly [because] once you get into the long haul freight covering two different specs, it gets very expensive because you’re flying floors in enormous boxes.
“So the reason that we sort of made a decision and stuck with it was largely down to freight costs more than anything else.”
Mercedes sticks with car concept
However, Shovlin has denied that Mercedes’ newest alteration in that area marks a complete departure from the direction that the discarded floor was tailored around.
“It’s not a fundamentally different concept. It’s an evolution of that floor from Spa. It’s not the only change on the car.
“Hopefully, it’ll be a big enough step that the performance will be obvious. But we’ll see, learn what we can about it.”
READ MORE: Mercedes denies ‘fundamental issue’ with F1 upgrades amid Lewis Hamilton concern
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