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The Mercedes F1 W06 Hybrid is a
Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
Formula One racing car A Formula One car (also known as an F1 car) is a single-seat, open-cockpit, open-wheel formula racing car with substantial front and rear wings, and an engine positioned behind the driver, intended to be used in competition at Formul ...
designed and developed under the direction of
Paddy Lowe Patrick Allen Lowe FREng (born 8 April 1962), known as Paddy Lowe, is the founder and CEO of the fossil-free synthetic fuel companZero Petroleum A former motor racing engineer and computer scientist, he spent 32 years working in Formula One and ...
,
Aldo Costa Aldo Costa (born 5 June 1961) is an Italian engineer and the Chief Technical Officer at Dallara. With eleven Constructors' Championships, Costa is considered one of the most successful engineers and designers in the category. Costa was born in Pa ...
, Geoff Willis, Loïc Serra,
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, John Owen, Mike Elliott and Jarrod Murphy to compete in the 2015 FIA Formula One World Championship. The cars were driven by
Nico Rosberg Nico Erik Rosberg (born 27 June 1985) is a German-Finnish former professional racing driver. He competed in Formula One from 2006 to 2016, winning the World Drivers' Championship in with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport. The only child of Fi ...
and the reigning World Champion
Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mich ...
, who remained with the team for a sixth and third season, respectively. The chassis was named "F1 W06 Hybrid" to represent the sixth
Formula One car A Formula One car (also known as an F1 car) is a single-seat, open-cockpit, open-wheel formula racing car with substantial front and rear wings, and an engine positioned behind the driver, intended to be used in competition at Formul ...
that Mercedes had constructed since , while the hybrid was marked to recognize the utilization of fully integrated hybrid power units. The car made its competitive debut at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, the opening round of the 2015 season. After participating in 18 rounds of Grand Prix racing, the car made its final competition appearance at the season finale race – the 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, before retirement.


Design and development

The F1 W06 Hybrid was the successor of the highly successful F1 W05 Hybrid, which has been described as one of the most dominant in the sport's history. The new car was seen as an evolutionary design, with
Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mich ...
declaring that "it is difficult to pick up any differences" between the two. Differences in design, apart from regulated changes for noses and front wings, were minimal, such as changes to the upper part of the suspension.


In-season development

The car underwent several changes over the course of the season, although not all of them were permanent. The first came at the
Chinese Grand Prix The Chinese Grand Prix () is a round of the Formula One World Championship and was contracted to return in 2023 but will now not do so until 2024 at the earliest. It is currently held at the Shanghai International Circuit, Jiading, Shanghai, d ...
, where Mercedes introduced new, square-shaped arches next to the front wing endplates as well as cuts near the rear wing endplates, aiming at a higher top speed. In
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, the team arrived with narrower sidepods, including a small air duct at the bottom, either to aid cooling or to influence aerodynamics at the diffuser. At the following race in Monte Carlo, in order to improve downforce for the twisty nature of the Monaco circuit, Mercedes increased the size of the so-called "monkey seat", a smaller wing below the main rear wing. Another change was made for the next event in
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: the car received a larger radiator to improve the cooling of the power unit at a track where Mercedes had suffered failures of their ERS unit the year before. The larger part necessitated a bulge on the engine cover. The most obvious aerodynamic change was the curve rear wing which was introduced during
2015 Belgian Grand Prix The 2015 Belgian Grand Prix (formally the 2015 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 23 August 2015 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium. It was the eleventh round of the 2015 Formula One seas ...
, the introduction was to allow for a decrease in drag without the associated loss of downforce. The curve rear wing was again used at the notable track:
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, hosting the
2015 Italian Grand Prix The 2015 Italian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Gran Premio d'Italia 2015) was a Formula One motor race held on 6 September 2015 at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy. The race was the twelfth round of the 2015 season, ...
.


Launch, pre-season and in-season testings

The F1 W06 Hybrid was officially unveiled on 1 February 2015 at the opening day of pre-season testing held at
Circuito de Jerez Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto (formerly known as Circuit of Jerez and Circuito Permanente de Jerez), is a racing circuit located close to the city of Jerez de la Frontera, south of Seville and deep within the sherry-producing region in th ...
. On the basis of 12 days of pre-season testing conducted at
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and
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, the car completed 1340 laps; a total of . Hamilton said during pre-season testing that the F1 W06 Hybrid felt equivalent to its predecessor. The car was also driven by 2015 DTM Champion:
Pascal Wehrlein Pascal Wehrlein (born 18 October 1994) is a German-Mauritian racing driver for the Porsche Formula E Team. He previously raced in Formula One for the Sauber and Manor teams. Holding dual nationality of Germany and Mauritius, he raced under the ...
during in-season testings.


Competitiveness and performance

The performance of the F1 W06 Hybrid was statistically the most dominant in any F1 season, earning a record number of 703 constructor's points out of a possible 817; they lost just 114 points across the whole season (earning 86.0% of points available). Both cars finished on the podium for 9 consecutive races, matching the record held by Ferrari – from the
1952 Belgian Grand Prix The 1952 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula Two race held on 22 June 1952 at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. It was race 3 of 8 in the 1952 World Championship of Drivers, in which each Grand Prix was run to Formula Two rules rather than the Formula O ...
to the 1953 Belgian Grand Prix. The team clinched their second consecutive Constructors' Championship at the , the 15th race of the season. Hamilton clinched his third Driver's championship one race later at the after gaining his tenth win of the season. In the nineteen races, the F1 W06 Hybrid took sixteen wins (ten for Hamilton and six for Rosberg), eighteen pole positions (eleven for Hamilton and seven for Rosberg), thirteen fastest laps (eight for Hamilton and five for Rosberg), fifteen front row lockouts and twelve 1–2 finishes. The competitiveness and performance of F1 W06 Hybrid set numerous records throughout the season, following Mercedes' successes the previous year.


Season summary


Opening rounds

Like its predecessor, the F1 W06 Hybrid started the season strongly.
Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mich ...
took pole position for the season-opening , ahead of teammate
Nico Rosberg Nico Erik Rosberg (born 27 June 1985) is a German-Finnish former professional racing driver. He competed in Formula One from 2006 to 2016, winning the World Drivers' Championship in with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport. The only child of Fi ...
. Hamilton and Rosberg moved clear of the field at the start of the race, and ultimately recorded a 1–2 finish, over half a minute clear of
Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
's Sebastian Vettel, who finished in third place. Hamilton took pole again at the while Rosberg qualified third, as Vettel broke Mercedes's run of 9 consecutive front-row lockouts – dating back to 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix – by taking second place in the rain affected qualifying session. Mercedes finished the race with both cars on the podium, behind Vettel therefore allowing him to close to within three points of Hamilton in the drivers' standings after two rounds. The two Mercedes cars once again locked out the front row at the , and again ultimately recorded a 1–2 finish, this also gave Hamilton his second hat-trick of pole position, fastest lap and race win, from the first three races of the season. Hamilton took his fourth consecutive pole position at the while Rosberg qualified third. In the race, Hamilton took his third win of the season, while Rosberg finished third as Ferrari's
Kimi Räikkönen Kimi-Matias Räikkönen (; born 17 October 1979), nicknamed "The Iceman", is a Finnish racing driver who competed in Formula One between 2001 and 2021 for Sauber, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, and Alfa Romeo. Räikkönen won the 2007 Formula One Wo ...
overtook him on the penultimate lap due to Rosberg struggling with brake problems on his car. After four rounds, Mercedes had a 52-point lead over Ferrari. Rosberg took his first pole position of 2015, at the , beating his teammate Hamilton by over a quarter of a second, with Vettel in third position. Rosberg had a great start and took control of the race to take his first win of the season while Hamilton, using a three stop strategy to fend off Vettel in third place, completed a 1–2 finish.


European rounds

Mercedes locked out the front-row once again at the , with Hamilton on pole position for the fifth time and Rosberg in second place. During the race, Hamilton built up a sizable lead over Rosberg, leading every lap until a crash between
Max Verstappen Max Emilian Verstappen (; born 30 September 1997) is a Belgian-Dutch Auto racing, racing driver and the 2021 Formula One World Championship, 2021 and 2022 Formula One World Championship, 2022 Formula One World Champion. He Formula One drivers ...
and
Romain Grosjean Romain David Jeremie Grosjean (; born 17 April 1986) is a Swiss-French professional racing driver, competing under the French flag in the NTT IndyCar Series, driving the No. 28 Honda for Andretti Autosport. Grosjean had previously spent nine ...
at turn one on lap 64 caused a "Virtual Safety Car" condition – officially used in Formula One for the first time – which was then quickly replaced by the normal safety car. Having held a lead in excess of 20 seconds beforehand, Hamilton was pitted under the safety car apparently with the intention of returning him to the track ahead of his pursuers. The Mercedes pitwall crew, however, miscalculated the gap allowing Rosberg to take the lead while Hamilton emerged from the pit exit lane marginally behind Vettel who had stayed out under the safety car behind Rosberg. With the safety car coming into the pits on lap 70 of 78, Rosberg retained the lead unchallenged, going on to win the race for the third consecutive year whereas Hamilton finished third, unable to overtake Vettel for second position. After the disappointment of Monaco, Mercedes quickly put to rest the criticism, with another 1–2 finish led by pole-sitter Hamilton at the . At the 8th round, the , Hamilton took his 7th pole position of the season. In the race, Rosberg had a better start than Hamilton and he eventually led Hamilton to record another 1–2 finish. At the , the two Mercedes cars qualified 1–2 for the 7th time in 9 races, with Hamilton taking his 8th pole. In the race, both Mercedes cars suffered poorer starts compared to both Williams cars of
Felipe Massa Felipe Massa (, born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver. He competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between 2002 and 2017, where he scored 11 Grand Prix victories, 41 podiums and finished as championship runner-up in 2008 by one poin ...
and
Valtteri Bottas Valtteri Viktor Bottas (; born 28 August 1989) is a Finnish racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Alfa Romeo, having previously driven for Mercedes from to and Williams from to . Bottas has scored race wins and podiums. H ...
. Massa surged through to lead into Abbey, with Bottas moving ahead of Rosberg and challenging Hamilton for second. At the first pit-stop phase, Hamilton pitted early and was able to use the "undercut" to pass Massa for first position. As the race continued, light rain came on at lap 35 and both Williams drivers struggled in the wet; thus Rosberg got past Bottas at Maggotts on lap 39. In the end, both Mercedes cars moved clear of the field and took their sixth 1–2 finish of the season. At the , Hamilton took his 9th pole of the season with Rosberg 2nd – the team's 7th front row lockout of the season. In the race, both Mercedes cars made poor starts and after a difficult race, Hamilton was given a drive through penalty and ended up finishing 6th while Rosberg suffered from a late puncture from contact with
Daniel Ricciardo Daniel Joseph Ricciardo ( "Ricardo", ; born 1 July 1989) is an Italian-Australian racing driver who last raced in Formula One driving for McLaren, under the Australian flag. He made his debut at the 2011 British Grand Prix with the HR ...
and finished in 8th place, ending Mercedes's run of 9 consecutive double podiums and 28 consecutive races with a podium finish. After the summer break, Hamilton took pole position for the , ahead of teammate Rosberg by almost half a second, securing the 2015 FIA pole position trophy in the process with 10 pole positions out of 19 races on the calendar. In the race, Hamilton started well but Rosberg lost position due to wheel spin as new starting procedures were being introduced and enforced. As the race continued, a controlled drive saw Hamilton beat teammate Rosberg by 2 seconds, finishing the race with a 1–2. Hamilton claimed his second career 'grand slam' – pole position, fastest lap, led every lap and win, at the . He also set the fastest lap times in all three practice sessions and all three segments of qualifying. Rosberg had a failure of a component which contaminated his new specification engine before the start of the qualifying, forcing him to run a power unit which had already competed in five race weekends from to . The power loss from the age of the engine cost him a front row grid slot in qualifying thus Rosberg had to settle for 4th. He was forced to retire in the closing stages of the race due to a failure of the engine.


Non-European rounds

Coming to the , both Mercedes struggled to be at the forefront as the cars do not suit the track, therefore performance and times slumped as a result. Hamilton and Rosberg could only qualify 5th and 6th respectively. In the race, Hamilton recorded his first retirement of the season and Rosberg finished 4th. At the 14th round of the season – , Mercedes was back on form during qualifying by locking out the 10th front-row of the season. In the race, Hamilton got the better start and forced Rosberg wide at turn 2 dropping him to fourth place at the end of the first lap. Hamilton dominated the race, leading every lap and setting the fastest lap whereas Rosberg recovered to second, 19s adrift of his teammate, securing Mercedes's 8th 1–2 finish of the season. During the , pole-sitter Rosberg was forced to retire in the early stages of the race owing to throttle pedal damper failure causing blockage on the throttle control. On the other hand, Hamilton qualified 2nd and eased to victory by 6 seconds, ahead of
Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
's Sebastian Vettel, clinching Mercedes a 2nd successive World Constructors' Championship. At the , Rosberg secured his third consecutive pole position, ahead of Hamilton as inclement weather disrupted the third part of qualifying, as a result using the times in Q2 to determine the grid. During the race, Hamilton got away better at the start, entering the first corner alongside his pole-sitter teammate; Hamilton braked late thus forcing his teammate to go wide. As a result, Hamilton took the lead and Rosberg lost additional positions, dropping to fifth exiting turn one. On lap 18, Rosberg moved ahead of Hamilton, who was the first of the front runners to change tyres at the end of the lap, going for a dry compound. But on lap 48, Rosberg lost the lead to Hamilton after sliding off track due to wheelspin in his rear tyres. Hamilton soon opened up a gap to his teammate and crossed the line as race winner, in addition earning his third World Drivers' Championship. At the , Rosberg took his fourth consecutive pole with Hamilton second, securing Mercedes's record thirteenth front row lockout of the season. Rosberg controlled the race and was always able to keep Hamilton at bay across the 71 laps securing his first win since the four months earlier, with Hamilton coming home second to give Mercedes their tenth 1–2 finish of the season. Rosberg also took the fastest lap of the race, to claim his first career hat-trick. On to the penultimate race of 2015 in
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, Rosberg beat Hamilton to pole by eight hundredths of a second and led Hamilton to the chequered flag securing the team's eleventh one-two finish of the season. At the final round in
Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...
, Rosberg beat Hamilton to pole once again to claim his sixth successive pole position and his seventh pole of the season overall and securing the team's fifteenth front-row lockout of the season, the most for any constructor in a single season in the history of Formula One. At the race, Rosberg led Hamilton to the flag to claim his third straight win and sixth win overall in the season and also securing the team's twelfth one-two finish, the most for any constructor in a single season in the history of Formula One, beating the previous record of eleven one-two finishes set by its predecessor the previous season. The team finished the season with 703 points, breaking their own record of 701 points set the previous season for most constructor points in a single season.


Formula One records

, the F1 W06 Hybrid holds the following Formula One records: * Highest percentage of points in a season: 86.04% (703 Championship Points out of 817 Championship Points) * Highest percentage of podiums in a season: 84.21% (32 podiums out of 38 entries) * Most 1–2 finishes in a season with highest percentage: 12 1–2 finishes (63.15%) * Most front-row lockouts in a season with highest percentage: 15 front-row lockouts (78.94%) * Most consecutive races with both cars on podium in a season: 9 consecutive races ( 2015 Australian Grand Prix2015 British Grand Prix) The car initially also held the record for most championship points in a season (703 points), most wins in a season (16 wins), most pole positions in a season with highest percentage (18 pole positions, 94.7%) and most podiums in a season (32 podiums). However those records were all broken the following year by its highly successful successor – the
Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid The Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid is a Formula One car, Formula One racing car which competed in the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship. It is one of the most successful Mercedes-Benz in Formula One, Mercedes-Benz designs of all time, designed and ...
.


Complete Formula One results

(
key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...
) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) Driver failed to finish the race, but was classified as he had completed greater than 90% of the race distance.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercedes F1 W06 Hybrid F1 W06 2015 Formula One season cars Formula One championship-winning cars