F1: What Are the Specs of the Mercedes W16?

Introduction

Do you like to drive fast? Many of us do, the wind in your hair, the speed of watching the world fly by, the feeling of controlling a machine capable of such speed. It’s innately satisfying.

And then you have the maniacs at Formula One, hurling themselves around the track at hundreds of kilometres an hour, with only a thin car to protect them if they crash. It’s a magnificent sport.

And it’s full of magnificent machines. Formula One cars are some of the most well-engineered and resource heavy projects in the modern era. And today we’re focusing on a brand new one. The Mercedes AMG W16.

This is truly one of man’s most remarkable creations, once you hear the story of how this car was made, and the effort that has gone into every little detail, you will see how it wasn’t just thrown together, it was meticulously built for a single purpose. To gun for the checkered flag.

This car is what happens when a racing team and their talented engineers commit to winning at all costs. It’s what happens when you focus on weaknesses so hard they become strengths. It’s what happens when speed and precision meet ingenious design.

But is it enough to win it all?

Strap in, and start your engines. Because we’re about to find out.

At A Crossroads – Birth of the W16

So, why did Mercedes need a new Formula One car in the first place? Beyond the fact that every team makes a new car every year to keep up with evolving strategies, technologies, and regulations?

Well, the Mercedes Formula One team was actually at a bit of a crossroads by the end of the 2024 season. Formula One cars have specific regulations for how their cars can be built relating to power, shape, safety and more, but there is enough wiggle room for differing car designs to come out from time to time that can change the game.

The last major technical changes to Formula One’s car manufacturing regulations came in 2022, and whilst there have been brief spells of success, a win here, a fastest lap there, but the championship has simply eluded them. And historically, that’s unlike Mercedes. Before 2022, the team won eight constructor’s titles in a row, that’s what you win when the team overall has more points than any other, as opposed to the points tallies of individual drivers.

But since 2022 it’s been spotty at best, since those new regulations came in, they’ve only won five races, which is not many. This decline in form and inconsistency also led to the departure of long-serving talisman and former world champion Lewis Hamilton.

With only one year left until new regulations arrived in 2026, Mercedes knew it was their last chance to make it big on the current car design they were using. The previous model, the W15, simply didn’t pass muster. Don’t get me wrong, it was fast, really fast, but there were several issues with the car that led to its underperformance on race day.

For starters, the outside temperature would play a large factor in the car’s performance, and imbalances in the temperature of the different tires made the car handle and react differently from session to session. It might seem like quite a small thing, but when you’re travelling at hundreds of kilometres per hour, every decimal point more efficient and reliable you can be, the better.

The previous car was modelled around the optimisation of a super-low ride height. The lower your car is to the floor, generally the better it is. A low ride height creates a low-pressure area underneath the car, often less than three centimetres from the track, and this sucks the car like an aeroplane wing towards the ground, resulting in more grip without needing a huge wing on the back of the car which increases drag.

Aerodynamics is everything in this sport. The W15 was created with this idea in mind, but for bumpier tracks, the ride height had to be raised, which lowered performance more than it did for other cars. If they had left it as it, it could have led to the car becoming unstable or damaged, and you don’t want that when travelling at speeds you’d get pulled over for on the Autobahn.

The car was also prone to understeer on slow corners. It was reluctant to turn, ruining the driver’s preferred racing line and further lowering performance. Between that, the ride height, and the inconsistency from the temperature, winning races on any given day was like closing your eyes and trying to hit a bullseye on a dartboard from the basket of a hot air balloon. It just wasn’t very likely.

But what that did mean was that Mercedes had a goal. The car was already fast, iron out the kinks and you might be on the podium come race day. And so, the engineers got to work, designing and building what they hoped would be the car that would bring glory back to Mercedes. The W16.

A New Era

Ok, so what design changes were made between the W15 and W16 that was going to flip the game on its head and turn Mercedes from wacky racers to Lightning McQueen?

Well, if you’re not into F1, the W16 might look like every Formula One car you’ve ever seen before, like a go-kart and a spaceship had a baby. But when the cars are side by side, you can see some major changes in the design that had some F1 enthusiasts practically frothing at the mouth when the car was revealed ahead of the start of the season back in late February of 2025 in London.

Technical director James Allison spoke on the team’s vision for the car, quoting here;

“Being the fourth year of these regulations on the chassis side, the cars are in the more mature phase. Big gains in lap time are harder to come by but we’ve been focused on making improvements in the areas that held us back last year.”

But what exactly is different? And what makes this new design so unique?

Well, it can only be so unique, the new car does use the W15’s general chassis geometry and suspension layout, but other than that, almost everything is new. Looking at the cars side by side, you can see that the body work has been entirely aerodynamically re-engineered. Changes were made to every aerodynamic surface on the car. Despite the same layout of the suspension, the front suspension itself is brand new, and further changes under the skin of the vehicle have been made to remedy the flaws of the previous model.

The issue with the W15 was that it was too extreme, too good in some areas, and nowhere good enough in others, Mercedes’ aim with the W16 was to keep the car efficient, but also to bring a more harmonious set of traits to the new design that will allow for a more consistent range of speeds. And of course, the more consistent a car is, the more used to it any driver can become when operating it over time. Think about it like riding a tamed horse versus a wild bull.

Both are dangerous, can run pretty fast and can kill you, but you know what to expect with one, whilst the other is a total unknown. So, the aim then in technical terms, was to balance the downforce, the force that pushes the car into the track and gives it more grip, with being able to reliably drive through both high and lower speed corners. Rounding off this edge in theory makes the W16 more of a balanced vehicle overall.

You’ll notice on the nose of the car in particular, the nose is narrower and there is no slot gap, the small space just at the end of the nose. A narrower nose pushes lets the air flow around it more easily and into the intended path the engineers designed, making the car more predictable. It also has a scalloped-out underside to create negative pressure, increasing airflow and downforce.

Meanwhile the lack of a slot gap largely does the same thing, but enhances that effect. A slot gap is often used to avoid turbulence, loss of downforce and drag. Those all sound like reasons you would want a slot gap, so why did Mercedes get rid of it?

It’s all about those two old chestnuts, aerodynamics, and physics. Listen, you can’t tell me that F1 isn’t a sport for nerds and I love it. The lack of a slot gap pushes more air through the car as it travels at high speeds, as opposed to around it.

This puts more downforce on the front axle of the vehicle, allowing the car to conquer corners without catastrophe, especially at slow speeds and makes the car more predictable in those corners. At higher speeds there is actually less downforce for corners, one of the many trade-offs when designing an F1 car, but seeing as the key issue of the previous model was the understeer on slow speed corners, this is exactly what the engineers and designers were trying to do. See what we mean when we say it makes for a more well-rounded vehicle?

Now this change does make the car less aerodynamic in some areas, and on the old design this might have been a problem, but as we covered, the whole body has been reshaped to accommodate this. You might also assume that this would lower the speed overall because stability in slower corners through downforce comes at the cost of drag. But on straightaways you don’t need all that extra downforce, and the drag created by a stop gap simply isn’t there, reducing drag overall and allowing for higher speeds on straightaways. The Drag Reduction System, or DRS, will also help here.

So, the W16 in theory can handle corners better whilst actually going even faster on straights than the previous car. That’s some nifty engineering.

Meanwhile another change is there is a twin turning vane assembly near the wheels and front suspension. These are two little devices that take the airflow being forced around the inside the tyre as it rotates on the track, and diverts it to the void area behind the tyre, this reduces tyre drag from pushing air inside the vehicle, especially underneath the floor of the car, which can have negative effects at top speeds, making it more aerodynamic overall.

The rear wing is one of the only external parts of the car that is the same as the 2024 model. But that’s because it’s a bolt-on measure to create downforce, there will likely be several iterations of different wings throughout the season depending on the needs of the car for specific tracks.

The final change to the structure of the car as far as we’ve been told is related to the carbon fibre that it’s made out of. In an innovative new design, the classic carbon fibre material has been replaced with sustainable carbon fibre composites, making it the first time that such a material has been used to build key components of a Formula One car. The material is light and strong exactly like classic carbon fibre, but it’s better for the environment.

Overall, these composites comprise 75% of the car’s materials, as part of the Mercedes team commitment to meet sustainability goals by 2040. Such composites owing to developments in the technology can flex more than they used to under the right speed, meaning they can form an even more aerodynamic shape over some other competitors through some clever engineering in their bodywork design. The company even believes such innovations can transcend motorsport, with an opportunity to take such developments into other areas, from aviation and aerospace to technical performance fabrics.

Team Principal and CEO Toto Wolff commented, quoting here;

“When you combine performance and innovation, you create progress. I am proud to lead a team of problem solvers who are committed to driving sustainable change.”

Here’s hoping it still leads to sustainable change on the track too, because when Formula One cars take millions of dollars to engineer, you’d rather be winning some races for your trouble.

How To Build a Monster

So, what about the internal specs of the W16? What are we looking at here when it comes to raw performance?

Well, let’s break it down to show how each element of this machine has been painstakingly engineered to get the absolute maximum speed, downforce, and the sexiest thing of all, safety. But how do they do this whilst reducing drag as much as possible, and gunning for that magical checkered flag and champagne popping celebrations?

Let’s start with the engine, since without it the car can be perfect but it won’t go anywhere. Now, F1 engines these days are actually pretty small, as they need to be in order to keep the power to weight ratio in check, but that doesn’t mean they’re not powerful. The Mercedes W16 F1 car has a 1.6 litre turbo hybrid power unit, with six cylinders.

This is also known as a V6 engine, which you might find in many sports, muscle, and performance cars. But those cars are typically much heavier than an F1 car, and when you think about that calculation you can start to see where the breakneck speed comes from. Whilst there is no top speed officially listed for the W16, many believe it to top out at around 230 miles per hour or around 375 kilometres per hour.

It has a 90-degree bank angle, which means that’s the angle at which the cylinders point away from the engine block, that’s pretty wide and gives the car better balance and a lower centre of gravity, which is important for cornering. It also has 24 valves, four for each cylinder, which allows more air to get into the engine, making for more efficient combustion and performance. This little engine can generate a lot of power, up to 15,000 revolutions per minute, a road car might reach half that at the top end. 15,000 is the upper limit set by F1’s regulatory body the FIA.

It also has a fuel injection system, where the specialised fuel is sprayed directly into the combustion chamber at over 7,000 PSI. This improves combustion efficiency and the car’s emissions, with each of the six cylinders having their own injectors commonly for precise control.

And then on top of all of that you have the turbocharger, the exhaust turbine, and the energy recovery system, or ERS. The turbocharger uses exhaust gases to spin a turbine, which in turn forces more air into the engine through a compressor. More air means more combustion and more combustion means car go zoom.

The exhaust turbine is connected to the turbocharger, which spins faster than a dentist’s drill and is designed to recover energy from the exhaust that is then rerouted back into the car via the ERS. It uses units focusing on kinetic energy under braking, a bit like modern electric cars do, and heat energy, which as you can imagine Formula One cars create a lot of. That energy is then transferred into electricity that the car can use intelligently as races go on.

This is what makes the engine a hybrid power unit, rather than a standard internal combustion engine you might see on the road.

Inside the car itself is where the driver sits, I know this is the hard-hitting engineering-based content you come here for. This is generally referred to as the cockpit. The driver’s seat is removable to reach other internals of the car and is made out of that same carbon fibre composite, keeping the frame light and strong, as lower weight means faster speeds, and carbon fibre is the only materials that can maximise safety when going that fast, at least in terms of what is commercially available for Formula One dev teams inside the restrictions they can operate in.

The seat has a six-point safety harness to ensure that the driver won’t be thrown out of the vehicle if they crash. That sounds counter intuitive, but trust me, road rash at hundreds of miles per hour and nothing to protect you from hitting a barricade other than a helmet might change your mind. It also has a HANS device, which stands for “Head and Neck Support” device, made of carbon fibre reinforced polymer, the HANS device attaches the helmet in conjunction with the harness to the rest of the driver’s body, and has a support where they can rest their heads, whilst keeping their shoulders and neck in place.

Again, this is a smart safety feature, many people experience whiplash when crashing at regular road speeds, imagine what that would feel like in a Formula One car, you’d stumble out of the car looking like Quasimodo without this thing. Basically, a HANS device is a lifesaver, whilst still allowing drivers to move their heads normally. In the cockpit is also the detachable steering wheel, which is also made of carbon fibre, you’ll see a theme here.

Around the cockpit and what the bodywork sits on is known as a “monocoque,” no we’re not talking about a singular chicken here, this is another internal safety structure to house the driver and cockpit, ensuring lightness, speed, and safety in the event of a crash because you guessed it, it’s made of carbon fibre. You can also think of this as a lightweight, rigid chassis structure that integrates the body and chassis into a singular unit that also protects the driver. A lighter monocoque also means that the car will be able to handle corners better.

Next, the bodywork, that’s the carbon fibre composite we mentioned earlier, and it covers all major external elements of the car designed to be aerodynamic, like the engine cover, sidepods, floor, nose, front wing, and the rear wing as well.

Let’s talk suspension, because when I tell you that the W16 uses a carbon fibre wishbone system utilising push rod activated inboard springs and dampers, you might look at the screen like I’ve grown a second head. But that’s all just engineering jargon. All it really means is that there’s a carbon fibre rod that connects the wheel of the car to the suspension springs and dampers, which helps drivers pass over bumpy surfaces more smoothly.

When the car goes over a bump, the wheel pushes this rod up and either directly into the springs and dampers (this is the case for the rear suspension on the W16), or that motion is then translated with a few different mechanisms to travel “inboard” towards springs and dampers in the nose (this is the case for the front suspension). The wishbone element just describes how the wheel is connected to the chassis via a suspension arm. This arm starts at the centre of the wheel and splays outwards in two directions connecting to the rest of the vehicle, which looks a bit like a wishbone.

There you go, now you understand F1 suspension.

The wheels are made from forged magnesium through a multi-stage forging process, ensuring that they’re lightweight and high strength, as they need to be capable of handling whatever speeds a car can go, as well as the track they’re driving on. They’re typically a stock item in Formula One these days and have been made by the Japanese company BBS since 1992 when they started supplying them to the Ferrari racing team. They have been the official supplier of wheel rims since 2022.

The tyres are Pirelli, the well-known brand supplies all tyres to F1 teams and has since 2011, although this agreement is up to be potentially changed in 2027. The 18-inch tyres comprise six “slick” rubber compounds ranging from hardest (which are the longest lasting but less grippy), all the way to the softest (the grippiest but last the shortest time before having to go into the pit). Three of these six are then included for race day and are colour coded to ensure nobody gets confused, but that’s not all.

Pirelli provides each team with 13 sets of dry weather tyres (these are the three of the six major compounds we were discussing) as well as several sets of “intermediate” and “full wet” tyres based on the conditions of the track that day.

For steering those wheels and tyres, the W16 uses a power-assisted rack and pinion system. This uses a hydraulic pump and pressurised fluid to assist with turning the car’s wheels which can be quite hard at speed with so much grip and downforce. Any of you have been go-karting or have had the power-steering fail in your car can understand a fraction of how hard it is to steer something without some extra help. “Rack and pinion” just refer to the mechanism that allows the wheels to turn.

A pinion gear connected to the steering column rotates and meshes with a toothed rack which pushes the wheels left and right when you turn the steering wheel. Simple.

Gearbox next, eight speeds forwards, and one reverse gear that you hope you never have to use mid-race. It’s housed in a carbon fibre case for protection. As for brakes, they’re made up of carbon discs and pads, and in the rear, there is a “brake-by-wire” system that monitors the driver’s pedal input and then sends a corresponding electrical signal to the braking system rather than using mechanical connections.

The callipers, the things that actually clamp down on the breaks are made from a light but sturdy aluminium alloy from a single bloc and are nickel plated to resist corrosion. This keeps the braking strong, which you need when travelling at hundreds of kilometres per hour.

Finally of the main elements of the car you have the safety features. We’ve spoke about the cockpit and monocoque survival cell, as well as the HANS and the six point harness, but the rest of the car is also designed with safety in mind. The car has what Mercedes refers to as “penetration panels,” in the monocoque which are designed to stop sharp parts of the car from penetrating the cockpit in the event of a crash.

It’s one thing to hit a barricade at top speeds, but it’s another to be impaled by your own suspension rods. Best leave that one in for the next iteration methinks. The car also has crumple zones which are designed to deform, absorb energy and even break off during a crash, as they too are made from carbon fibre, they’re very good at their jobs.

Finally, you have the titanium driver protection structure, known as the HALO, which stop the driver from dying if the car flips over on its head. Imagine it like a mini roll cage just above the driver’s head. This feature is universally popular and has saved driver’s lives when they otherwise may well have been killed in a particularly bad crash.

After that it’s minor stuff, electronics, instrumentation, and the fuel system all are designed to ensure the car runs as smoothly as possible. PETRONAS, the well-known sponsor of Mercedes, provides all of the car’s lubrication and fuel.

And that’s really all there is to it. You can see how the engineers were so meticulous in incorporating their design to ensure not a single gram of weight was spared, and that every ounce of power could be translated from the engine to the wheels with as little waste as possible.

Now you don’t just know how the W16 works, you have the basic building blocks for how all F1 cars operate. Most cars have the same systems or variations on them.

So then, given that, how does the W16 stack up? It’s been engineered well, and its main issues have mostly been dealt with from the W15 days, so what can be expected whenever you see this thing on a Grand Prix track?

A Champion’s Car?

So, the W16 has been able to be driven in a number of Formula One Grand Prix races for Mercedes now, how is it doing? Pretty good, all things considered. Mercedes struggled in the 2024 season to get anywhere near the podium, and whilst McLaren are running away with it this season so far, Mercedes is comfortably second, and given that their driving stock has lost a multiple time world champion, that’s a strong indictment of a car that is well designed and has mostly dealt with its predecessor’s flaws.

Even if they are yet to win any races. But it’s still early, the season is long, and we won’t really know how exactly the W16 stacks up for sure until the end of the season to see who comes out on top of that winners’ podium. McLaren, the team currently in first, is actually using the same engine with differing design elements in other places, another strong indictment for the engine.

In a sense, the fact they are so high up without winning any races is a testament to the greater reliability and consistency of the W16, which is exactly what Mercedes was aiming for, a more well-rounded car.

George Russell, one of Mercedes’ main drivers, generally has said he likes the car and that it performs well on the track, but with one small bugbear. Russell has mentioned that the car performs better in cooler conditions and the temperature is still affecting the consistency of the car from race to race. So, whilst the understeer appears to be fixed, and that’s really important, the temperature issues persist. However, it is still shaping up to be a strong season for Mercedes thanks to the skill of their drivers and the W16.

Because in the right conditions this thing can really fly. During the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, Kimi Antonelli, the 18-year-old driver Mercedes chose to replace Lewis Hamilton, won the fastest lap. Another early notch in the W16’s belt.

It may not end up winning the whole thing, but it’s pretty likely that the Mercedes W16 will see the podium at the end of the season if the W16 can keep up with the same pace for the foreseeable.

And soon the cycle is going to begin anew, when the 2026 season is set to start a new set of regulations will be enforced by the FIA that will necessitate new and innovative car designs. One might argue its wasteful of Mercedes to redevelop to such an extent this year only for the whole thing to be thrown out the window next year anyway. If they’re not going to win regardless why not cut their losses and focus on pouring resources into the 2026 car instead? That’s a valid question, but it’s not always how elite sport tends to work.

Toto Wolff had the following to say on such a dilemma quote;

“This is the crux of the matter every year, and especially if you have such a big regulatory change, are you going to compromise one year or the other?” said Wolff, in an exclusive interview with Autosport. But I’d like to take it from Niki’s (referring to the late great driver Niki Lauda’s) motto, when being asked. ‘Would you rather win this one or the next one?’ And he says, ‘Both.’

And that kind of attitude is how you make champions.

Key Takeaways

• The Mercedes AMG W16 was designed to address the W15’s temperature sensitivity and understeer issues.
• The W16 features a narrower nose and no slot gap to improve airflow and downforce.
• The W16’s engine is a 1.6-litre turbo hybrid V6, capable of 15,000 RPM.
• The W16 incorporates sustainable carbon fibre composites for 75% of its materials.
• The W16 has shown strong performance in the 2025 season, securing second place.

Sources

• Original MegaProjects video: F1: What Are the Specs of the Mercedes W16?
• Hero image source by Rick Dikeman / openverse, by-sa.

Related Coverage