I'm basing this on the premise that all the Mercedes cars so far have been based upon the BGP001, which had monstrous rear downforce thanks to the DDD.
My gut says the W03 had excellent rear mechanical grip, as evidenced by the competitive times on green track surfaces, during practice sessions, and steadily decreasing pace during the race.
That said, the was an aerodynamic pig. It lacks aero downforce, and has too much drag.
The lack of aero downforce theory is supported by the rear tire eating problem - while other teams had good aero grip, which lessens tire wear, to try and keep up, the W03 had to rely on mechanical grip - and riding the edge between adhesion and slip is what I believe was eating the tires so badly.
Why do I say it had too much drag? I didn't see the legendary Mercedes power doing anything special at Monza, or Spa, or Montreal. Something was mitigating that power advantage. I think it was a combination of too much wing to try and increase downforce, and poor internal aerodynamics. Which, incidentally, is where I suspect one of Red Bull's true strengths lie - how easily air moves through the car, as supported by the large cooling outlets on their engine covers over the last few years.
Suspension behavior and tire wear is also very closely linked - smoother tire loading and unloading will preserve tires, whereas rapid load changes will lead to micro-slipping and faster degredation. That said, suspension designs must include the tire AS a suspension element unto itself - they are bouncy air springs that just happen to roll, let's remember. Worse, they're problematic because their spring rate varies with pressure, which has impact upon the rest of the suspension as well...
The team that figures out how to hold tire temperature within a few degrees consistently during long runs has a MUCH easier job doing everything else. I suspect we'll see a few more creative ways of using brake heat to maintain tire temperature next season. I liked McL's (?) heat reactive bimetallic brake shroud concept, but it was outlawed. There are a few more holes in the rules that I hope some teams will exploit for next year.
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