What is still hindering Mercedes in its quest to return to top form?

Despite its relentless development push, Mercedes seemingly struggles to get themselves back to the front, with the bumpy track surface proving the most significant limiting factor for the performance of the Brackley-based outfit's W15.

Mercedes kicked off its 2024 F1 season in a low-key manner, struggling for pace in the early races both in qualifying trim and in race conditions. However, a new front wing introduced at the Monaco Grand Prix seemingly transformed the performance of the W15.

At the next race, the Brackley-based outfit managed to secure its first pole position courtesy of George Russell, who could convert his starting position into the team's first podium finish of the season. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton ended up in an impressive fourth spot in Montreal.

The team continued the positive trend into the next race that took place at Barcelona. Showing promising pace both in qualifying and the race, Hamilton took his first podium finish of the season, with Russell ending up a place behind him in P4.

Although McLaren and Red Bull were significantly quicker at the Red Bull Ring, a clash between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen in the closing stages of the Austrian Grand Prix handed Russell the victory, who scored the German-British squad's first triumph since the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Having brought a raft of upgrades to Great Britain, Hamilton took an emotional pole position at Silverstone in front of his home crowd, which he could convert into his first victory since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion displayed impressive performance at the subsequent race at the Hungaroring, but it was 'only' enough for third place on the podium as McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were untouchable at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Pitting only once in a race which was expected to favour the two-stop strategy, Russell crossed the finish line first at the Belgian Grand Prix. However, he was disqualified as his W15 was found underweight, but with Hamilton finishing second at Spa, the seven-time world champion was promoted to clinch his 105th victory.

The Spa F1 round also saw Mercedes introduce an updated floor, but it was shelved after the opening day of practice. It was then tried again at Zandvoort and at Monza, with mixed results.

Since Zandvoort, Mercedes has endured an unexpected drop in performance, and has only clinched a single podium finish courtesy of Russell at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Last time out in Sao Paulo, Hamilton was struggling with the bumpy track in the sole practice session, and although he looked relatively strong in the opening segment of sprint qualifying, he was unable to make it to SQ3.

The seven-time world champion, who drove Ayrton Senna's 1990 McLaren MP4/5B after qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday, has revealed that Mercedes were forced to lift the car between the practice and the sprint qualifying session to improve the ride on the bumpy surface.

"It has been a difficult day for me – notwithstanding the incredible support from the amazing fans here in Brazil. I think the ride on the bumpy surface has been pretty bad for everyone, and it made FP1 very challenging inside the cockpit.

"We lifted the car during the break and improved the situation, but the pace simply wasn’t there when it came to the timed laps – the balance is on a knife edge, and the car just so tricky to drive and I couldn’t attack any of the corners as I wanted to.

The Sao Paulo weekend highlighted the fact that Mercedes needs to run its W15 very low to the ground to achieve the downforce level it intends to generate on the basis of its simulations, and as soon as the track does not allow to run a car close to the ground, it loses its competitiveness. In turn, the change in ride height appears to particularly affect Hamilton, who struggles with the inconsistent performance of his car when it is forced to run with a higher clearance.

Pushed on to explain what has led to the difficult behaviour of his car in Brazil, Hamilton blamed the bumpy nature of the Interlagos track. Reflecting on his car after taking the chequered flag in 10th place at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Hamilton added: "That was a disaster weekend. That’s the worst the car’s ever been.

“It’s like a plank of wood. There’s no suspension. It’s just bouncing on the tyres, everywhere. Can’t get on the power anywhere.”

“The worst ride definitely that we’ve ever had, particularly through corners. Just so stiff. Hopefully we won’t have any more bumpy tracks. I think the last three aren’t so bouncy, but yeah, I could happily go take a holiday," noted Hamilton.