The W11 was designed under the direction of James Allison and an engineering group that included Mike Elliott, Loïc Serra, Ashley Way, Emiliano Giangiulio, Jarrod Murphy, and Eric Blandin. One of its most distinctive technical features was Dual-Axis Steering (DAS), a system developed by Mercedes that allowed the driver to adjust the toe angle of the front wheels by pushing or pulling the steering wheel. By switching between zero toe and negative toe, drivers could warm tyres more efficiently on straights and optimise cornering behaviour. DAS was banned from the 2021 season onward.
The rear suspension design was also revised from the predecessor W10 to reduce understeer. The car was originally planned to debut at the 2020 Australian Grand Prix, but the event was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the season did not begin until the Austrian Grand Prix in July 2020. The enforced delay allowed Mercedes engineers additional time to address reliability concerns.
In late June 2020, following the global growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, Mercedes announced the W11 would abandon the traditional silver livery in favour of black as its primary colour. Lewis Hamilton was credited as a driving force behind the decision, having urged the team to make a visible statement beyond social media.
The W11 proved immediately dominant. At the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix, Bottas qualified on pole and won the race despite gearbox issues, while Hamilton recovered from a five-second time penalty — for a collision with Alexander Albon — to finish fourth. Hamilton took pole at the Styrian Grand Prix by over 1.2 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen and led most of that race to victory, with Bottas following in second.
At the Hungarian Grand Prix, Mercedes locked out the front row by 0.8 seconds over third-placed Lance Stroll. Hamilton won and equalled the record for most wins at a single circuit, recording his eighth victory at the Hungaroring. At the British Grand Prix, Hamilton led from pole before both he and Bottas suffered tyre delaminations in the closing laps. Hamilton limped across the finish line on a damaged tyre, seeing his lead shrink dramatically but ultimately holding on to win.
The 70th Anniversary Grand Prix held at Silverstone was a rare stumble: Mercedes struggled with excessive tyre wear caused by high temperatures, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen seized the opportunity to take victory — the first race of 2020 that Mercedes failed to win.
At the Spanish Grand Prix, Hamilton qualified 0.059 seconds ahead of Bottas and won by over 24 seconds, also setting a new Formula One record for career podium finishes, surpassing Michael Schumacher's total with his 156th. At the Belgian Grand Prix, Hamilton set a new lap record at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps with a time of 1:41.252, half a second clear of Bottas, and the two converted that into a 1–2 finish, extending the championship lead to 86 points over Red Bull in the Constructors' standings.
At the Bahrain Grand Prix, Hamilton took pole and won for the third time at that circuit, though Bottas suffered a puncture under the safety car and finished eighth. Hamilton subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 and was replaced by Williams driver George Russell for the Sakhir Grand Prix. Russell, a Mercedes junior, overtook Bottas at the start and led most of the race before a pit-stop error — Russell was fitted with Bottas' tyres, requiring an additional stop — ended his victory bid. A late puncture dropped Russell to ninth, while Bottas finished eighth. Hamilton returned for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale, with both Mercedes drivers taking second and third behind Verstappen.
Across 17 races, the W11 scored thirteen wins — eleven for Hamilton and two for Bottas — fifteen pole positions, nine fastest laps, twelve front-row lockouts, and five 1–2 finishes. Hamilton wrapped up his seventh World Drivers' Championship, equalling Michael Schumacher's all-time record, while Mercedes secured a seventh consecutive Constructors' Championship, breaking the consecutive-titles record previously held by Ferrari.
The W11 is considered among the most dominant Formula One cars in the sport's history. Its combination of outright pace, reliability, and adaptability across a compressed 17-race calendar produced a championship margin that few cars have matched. The DAS system stood as a notable engineering innovation, even in its single season of legal use. The car also marked a cultural statement: its black livery, adopted mid-season in support of anti-racism efforts, became one of the most recognisable liveries in modern Formula One.
The W11 appeared as a playable vehicle in the video game F1 2020 and in Real Racing 3 and CSR2, and featured in the Braking Point story mode of F1 2021.