HALF TERM REPORT: Mercedes – A tricky start to 2024, but are they now back to their competitive best?

Mercedes began the season reeling from the news that Lewis Hamilton was swapping his Silver Arrows overalls for red ones in 2025 and – if that wasn’t enough of a blow – their W15 challenger looked to be another hard-to-handle machine. But fast forward to now, and Mercedes are arguably the form team, having won three of the last four races before the summer break. Here’s their 2024 half term report…

• Read all the 2024 half term reports here

Best finish

George Russell – 1st in Austria; Lewis Hamilton – 1st in Britain and Belgium

The Brackley squad’s end to the first half of the year has been nothing short of sensational, winning three of the last four races (they could have had a 1-2 in there as well had George Russell not been disqualified in Belgium for an underweight car, with Hamilton inheriting the victory).

But what has been most impressive is that their triumphs at Silverstone and Spa were totally on merit – Russell’s win in Austria being the exception to that rule after Max Verstappen and Lando Norris came to blows late on in the race.

This recent success hinges on the upgrades the team have brought to the W15. In the words of F1.com tech contributor Mark Hughes, the Silver Arrows “finally seem to have unlocked the secrets of the ground effect regulations”.

Mercedes Technical Director James Allison gave a very honest assessment after Russell secured pole at the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix – the first sign that their development pathway was working – as he admitted both he and the team should have seen the solutions sooner.

“This is more of an ‘oh God, how could we have been so dumb?!’ type moment, where you see the path forward and you should have seen it sooner!” Allison told F1’s Beyond The Grid podcast. Well they’re certainly reaping the rewards now.

Qualifying head-to-head

Russell 10-4 Hamilton

The qualifying head-to-head between the two Mercedes drivers ignited plenty of conversation earlier in the season. That came after Hamilton said in Monaco he didn’t anticipate being ahead of Russell in qualifying many times this year, pointing to upgrades his younger team mate had been given ahead of him at the time.

“All drivers [are] a bit sceptical at times,” Team Principal Toto Wolff said in response to those comments, and the team’s uptick in performance and pace has pushed this particular talking point to the wayside.

That said, Russell’s skill over one lap has really shone this year – as shown by his head-to-head record, as well as the pole positions secured in Canada (where he memorably set the exact same time as Verstappen) and at Silverstone.

READ MORE: Hamilton predicts ‘one hell of a second half’ to 2024 amid multi-team scrap for wins

Race head-to-head

Russell 8-6 Hamilton

It’s the younger Briton who takes this head-to-head again, but Hamilton is the man who leads when it comes down to points scored (150 compared to Russell’s 116), points finishes (13 to Russell’s 11) and also podiums (four compared to his team mate’s two).

There’s also the fact he has two victories to Russell’s one – your comments on the Spa disqualification can be inserted here – which means Hamilton is the only driver other than Verstappen to win more than one race this year.

It should be noted Russell has had three DNFs versus Hamilton’s one, with the man from King’s Lynn particularly unlucky in the British Grand Prix when he looked in the fight for victory but had to retire with a water system issue.

Best moment

This would have been a more challenging category had we written this a few weeks ago. It would also have been a glorious Belgian Grand Prix 1-2 had we written this 10 minutes after that race finished…

But even then, you will be hard pushed to find a better moment for Mercedes this year than Hamilton’s emotional Silverstone win. Not only did he win the British Grand Prix for a record-breaking ninth time but he also ended a 945-day wait since his last trip to the top step of the podium.

Wolff arguably summed it up best: “To make him win again, at the British Grand Prix, in his last race for Mercedes here, it’s almost like a little fairytale. You couldn’t have scripted it better.”

READ MORE: How 945 days of blood, sweat and tears paid off in Hamilton’s statement Silverstone victory

Worst moment

Let’s take a trip back in time to the Australian Grand Prix where things were really not looking positive for Mercedes after a double DNF for the team.

Hamilton was forced to retire early on with a mechanical issue – leading him to describe 2024 as the “worst start to a season I’ve ever had” – while Russell dramatically crashed out in the final stages of the race as he was chasing down Fernando Alonso.

All of this would have hit morale within the Silver Arrows as Wolff stated after the race that the team’s problems left him wanting to “punch himself on the nose” after a “brutal” day.

Thankfully for the squad, those issues seem to be well past them now.

Going forward

Mercedes ultimately have two items on the immediate agenda if they want to continue this positive trajectory and keep fighting for wins.

First and foremost, the upgrades and developments need to keep coming, and keep delivering, if they want to have a chance of rising up the constructors’ standings. They are currently fourth – owed in part to their slow start to the season – with third-placed Ferrari 79 points ahead of them, while second-placed McLaren are 100 points ahead. Realistically, grabbing that third-place spot has to be the target at least.

READ MORE: ‘I’m not asking for anything’ – Antonelli says potential F1 promotion ‘still a dream’ as he waits for Mercedes to make decision

The second item on the to-do list is to secure who they want for that second seat, with Hamilton soon to be off to Ferrari. The name that keeps coming up is F2 prospect Kimi Antonelli, with the 17-year-old enjoying a rapid rise through the motorsport ranks, while he’s also had a taste of F1 machinery, having tested Mercedes’ 2021 and 2022 challengers.

It’s clear the team have enormous faith in the youngster and a belief in his abilities – but is it too much too soon? That will undoubtedly be the question on everyone’s lips should he get the opportunity to succeed one of the all-time F1 greats in that Silver Arrows seat.

Only Mercedes can know if 2025 is the right time to throw the Italian in at the deep end. But if 2024 has taught us anything, it's that you need two drivers scoring consistently if you hope to win the constructors' championship. With the team looking like they could be on their way back to their competitive best, it’s a decision they need to get right.