Helmut Marko deems Mercedes W15 a ‘flash in the pan’ amidst HORRENDOUS start to 2024

The Toto Wolff-led team has managed to amass only 52 points in the 2024 Constructors standings.

As an outsider, you get the feeling that Mercedes are still getting worse. What irritates me so much is that the car is really fast at times, and at times it runs at absolute peak times. Then I think: ‘Look, now they get it! But that's always just a flash in the pan. Helmut Marko said in an interview with OE24

The 80-year-old veteran of the sport has put emphasis on how Mercedes’s W15 has on occasion, shown tremendous pace whereas on other, been nowhere near the expected levels. There is a general belief in the paddock that the Brackley-based team’s 2024 challenger has a fundamental flaw that can’t be corrected.

Mercedes is not in the title picture for the third year in a row

While the W15 does not seem to be getting to a title-worthy level any time soon, Marko is extremely surprised by this. During the turbo-hybrid era, none of the other teams were even able to come close to what Mercedes was able to produce.

It is no fluke that during that time, the German outfit amassed eighth consecutive constructors world championships alongside several driver’s titles.

It doesn’t happen overnight that you slump like this. That is alarming is that they have not been competitive for the third season now. Helmut Marko said in the same interview

2025 is the last season under the current set of F1 regulations. Since 2022, the Mercedes outfit has only gone backward, and with the new regulations not too far away, 2026 could prove to be the year when the team finally gets out of its shell and makes a roaring comeback in the championship picture.