Following a challenging 2012 season in which the team finished fifth in the World Constructors' Championship despite recording their maiden victory at the Chinese Grand Prix, Mercedes underwent substantial changes to its engineering structure. Aldo Costa was recruited from Ferrari, as were Geoff Willis from the now-defunct HRT F1 Team and Mike Elliott from Lotus F1. Parallel to this, Toto Wolff replaced Norbert Haug as Vice President of Motorsport, transitioning from his role as Executive Director at Williams. The car was revealed on 4 February at Jerez by its two drivers.
The W04 was developed amidst a period of significant regulatory stability in Formula One. The team aimed to improve aerodynamic efficiency and mechanical grip. Given the limited information available regarding the W04’s specific technical details, focus remains on the personnel changes and the broader regulatory context.
The W04’s season began with difficulties, despite early promise. Although Hamilton and Rosberg secured two podium finishes and three consecutive pole position starts within the first five races, the car developed a reputation for being notoriously harsh on its tyres during a time when tyre supplier Pirelli was faced with heavy criticism for the delicate structure of its tyre compounds, and the narrow operating window. This was evidenced in the Bahrain and Spanish Grands Prix, where Nico Rosberg qualified on pole for both races, but went on to finish them in ninth and sixth places respectively.
At the Monaco Grand Prix, the W04 achieved a front row lockout with Nico Rosberg on pole and Lewis Hamilton in second. Rosberg went on to win the race, repeating the feat of his father Keke Rosberg in the 1983 race, Hamilton finished in fourth. At the British Grand Prix, Hamilton qualified on pole with Rosberg in second. In the race, Hamilton was comfortably leading, until lap 8, when his car suffered a left-rear tyre failure on the Wellington Straight. Felipe Massa had a similar tyre failure and a subsequent tyre explosion on Jean-Éric Vergne's car brought out the safety car on lap 16. Rosberg went on to win the race ahead of Red Bull's Mark Webber by just 0.7 seconds giving Mercedes their second win of the season.
In Hungary, Hamilton secured his first win for the team after starting on pole position, he managed his tyres without any of the early season trouble he had faced. Rosberg dropped back at the start and retired for the third and final time in the season. Belgium was next and Hamilton secured his 4th pole position in a row. However, Sebastian Vettel was too quick for the Mercedes and ran away with the race; Hamilton and Rosberg finished 3rd and 4th and kept themselves in 2nd place in the championship. India and Abu Dhabi came as the 2 venues for the team's final podium finishes after difficult races in Singapore, Korea and Japan-where Hamilton suffered his first retirement of the season. Nico Rosberg inherited 2nd place in India when Webber retired and he finished 'best of the rest' in 3rd behind the 2 Red Bulls in Abu Dhabi. In Brazil, Hamilton had been running 4th and on course for the podium but when lapping Valtteri Bottas they touched which left Hamilton with a puncture and a drive through which dropped him out of the points. He fought back to 9th and combined with Rosberg's 5th-place finish the team secured 2nd place in the Constructors' Championship.
On 17 November 2023, the Mercedes W04 chassis no.4 (the exact chassis with which Hamilton took his victory in Hungary) was sold at auction for US$18.8 million (£15.1 million) by RM Sotheby's at Las Vegas ahead of the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix. This was the second most expensive Formula 1 car ever sold at auction behind the 1954 W196. In December 2024, Hamilton drove the W04 at the Silverstone Circuit) for the last time as a Mercedes driver, marking the end of the most successful driver and team partnership in F1 history. The W04 represented a crucial step in Mercedes’ eventual success in subsequent Formula One seasons.
This article is based on information from the Wikipedia article “Mercedes F1 W04”.
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