F1 News: Mercedes Reveals Rejected Upgrade Will Return At The Dutch GP

Saajan Jogia | Aug 1, 2024

May 4, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton (44) during F1 qualifying for Miami Grand Prix at Miami International Autodrome. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports / Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

Mercedes revealed that the upgraded floor, which was rejected at Spa-Francorchamps last week, will likely return after the Formula 1 summer break for the Dutch GP at Zandvoort. Mercedes introduced the floor to enhance the performance of its W15 F1 car but changed its mind about it after the free practice session.

The team was perplexed by its lack of pace during practice, causing it to revert to its previous floor specification for the remainder of the weekend. Despite having a strong track record this season with successful upgrades, the decision to abandon the new floor raised concerns that the team might be encountering issues.

It is likely that Mercedes didn't want to take any chances at a time when it displayed renewed performance to fight at the front with Red Bull, McLaren, and Ferrari. In addition, the failed upgrades on Ferrari's SF-24 that resulted in underperformance after Imola might have rung alarm bells in the Brackley garage to go one step at a time with aerodynamic upgrades.

However, the Brackley outfit is confident about the new floor and explains that the observed drop in performance at Spa was not attributed to the floor, but to other "mechanical" factors that are yet to be confirmed. Speaking to the media, as quoted by Motorsport, Toto Wolff explained that the team was willing to experiment at Zandvoort:

“I think we made a drastic change in order to recover some of the performance, but we believe it wasn't the floor.

“It will be quite interesting when we put everything on the car in Zandvoort and correlate, and see what it does. Then we can be sure whether it's the mechanical bit that we thought, or if there are few interactions aerodynamically and mechanically that didn't work.”

With 10 races to go in the second half of the season, Wolff added that the fight for the championship is a tough one and hence, one has to be "carefully optimistic" when judging the championship outcome. The Mercedes team boss chose to keep "both feet on the ground" despite his drivers winning three of the last four Grands Prix. He said:

“I think we need to remain both feet on the ground.

“The swings of performance, you see a trend definitely that's positive on our side. With some other teams, you see a negative trend.

“But I don't think we should really pre-empt how the second half of the season is going to go. I think it's a tough fight, and there are four teams that are giving it everything.

“I think we can be carefully optimistic. But we've got to prove it. There are 10 races to go.”