James Allison has admitted the Mercedes W15’s performance at the Las Vegas Grand Prix was partly “annoying” with the team not expecting such a dominant display.

Despite an inconsistent second half of the season, the W15 emerged as the class of the field in Vegas as George Russell dominated from pole position to claim a third career victory.

Mercedes W15 causes ‘annoyance’ despite resounding Las Vegas GP win

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, recovered from a disappointing 10th place in qualifying to seal Mercedes’ first one-two finish since the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Russell admitted Mercedes’ dominance in Vegas had come as “a real surprise”, telling media including PlanetF1.com: “It’s been a dream of a weekend.

“I don’t know how we’ve been so quick, but I’m just riding this wave right now.”

George Russell vs Lewis Hamilton: Mercedes head-to-head stats for F1 2024

???? F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

???? F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Hamilton added that Mercedes “don’t know why we were so quick” last weekend, revealing the W15 was “the best the car’s ever felt” in Vegas.

Mercedes’ ability to quickly generate good tyre temperature has been widely credited for the team’s performance, with the W15 also excelling in cooler conditions earlier this season in Britain and Belgium, both races won by Hamilton.

Appearing on Mercedes’ post-race Debrief show, Allison has admitted that Mercedes were a little “annoyed” by the pace of the car in Las Vegas, having not expected such a strong performance.

And he says it is “key” for the team to understand why the W15 was so quick, indicating that more was at play than good tyre warm up in the cold temperatures.

He said: “My opening words to the factory on Monday were ‘it was brilliant, exhilarating, but also annoying.’

“Annoying because we did not predict the pace that we had this weekend.

“And one of the main things about being an engineer is to try to get a sense of what is going on with a car, trying to make sure that you understand it and can optimize it, and that involves being able to predict it.

“We certainly did not expect the sort of dominant performance that we showed. There could be lots and lots of reasons for it.

“You mentioned track temperature, an unusually cold environment, racing in the desert in the winter in Las Vegas, but there will be more to it than that.

“I think the key thing for us to do is to dig into the many different possible explanations over the coming week to see if we can turn that annoyance into a degree of understanding and then use it to our benefit.”

Allison’s comments come after team boss Toto Wolff conceded that Mercedes “certainly benefited” from the cold conditions in Las Vegas.

And he warned that the team could be on course for another big result at the penultimate race of F1 2024 in Qatar this weekend, with the fast and flowing layout set to favour the W15.

He said: “The races in Las Vegas and Qatar couldn’t be more different.

“The Lusail International Circuit has many high-speed sections and few, if any, big braking zones. Despite going there later in the calendar than last year, it will still be very warm.

“That is in contrast to the cool conditions and many slow speed sections of Las Vegas. Nevertheless, we are aiming for another strong showing this weekend.

“The W15 has looked more at home at circuits with lots of high-speed corners, such as Silverstone or Spa.

“We certainly benefited from the night-time cold in Las Vegas, but the layout in Qatar should be more favourable to the strengths of our car.

“We know our competitors will be stronger than they were last weekend, but we will be aiming to get the car in a good window once again and be in the fight at the front.”

Read next: Lewis Hamilton data reveals strong trend behind qualifying errors