It has been a year of mixed fortunes for Mercedes after the team managed to take four victories, but missed out on challenging for the Constructors title.
The team finished fourth and over 100 points behind Red Bull, with the W14 proving to be a better car concept than its predecessor.
Mercedes introduced a front wing update at the Monaco Grand Prix which proved to be the turning point, as they became competitive at Montreal after coming up with a design similar to rivals.
Much of the upgrade addressed the balance issues experienced by George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, enabling them to emerge as competitive forces at subsequent races in Austria, Silverstone and the Belgian Grand Prix.
Russell would later take a dominant victory at the Las Vegas GP, with Hamilton climbing up the field to take second from P10 on the grid.
Discussing one of the main areas that they need to improve, Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin told Autosport that there is one area they want to improve where rivals have managed to beat them.
Andrew Shovlin says Mercedes must focus on tyre overheating with 2025 challenger
After the summer break, Mercedes form dipped as they struggled with a floor upgrade made to the W15. On top of that, their achilles heel appeared to be high track temperatures.
The low temperatures in Las Vegas made it easier for them to manage the problem, and its something Shovlin believes needs to be a priority this season.
“Rear overheating, that’s an area where I don’t think we are as good as McLaren, Red Bull or Ferrari, and that’s probably affected as most recently at tracks like Singapore,” said Shovlin.
“So we’re looking at what we can do to get temperature out of the rear tyres – and any work in that area is twofold: one is can we put less temperature in? And the other one is, can we take more temperature out?
“But that’s clearly an area where, on a Sunday, we had a big gap to the front in some of those races. And definitely an area of focus for next year.”
Mercedes might have ‘head start’ on Ferrari in 2025 with aero-elestric front wing
Hamilton has now begun his first days as a Ferrari driver after leaving Mercedes at the end of last season, with Toto Wolff offering some heartfelt words during the seven-time world champion’s final visit to the team’s factory.
Both Mercedes and McLaren managed to find a ‘dominant technical feature’ on their cars last season, which will likely give them the edge over Ferrari and Red Bull.
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Red Bull will be keen to improve their fortunes after finishing the season with the third best car, despite Max Verstappen taking his fourth title in a row.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc believes they can challenge for the title in 2025, with Hamilton vying to win his eighth to secure his status as the all-time great.
