Mercedes has revealed that it is working on new components aimed at solving the fundamental balance issues that have been holding it back this season .
The German manufacturer has had one of its worst starts to a season in F1 history with W15 showing flashes of speed but struggling to deliver on race weekend performance.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have struggled at times with a ‘knife-edge’ feeling, as Mercedes have failed to create a set-up that exploits the potential they believe is locked in the car.
While the team hopes that a package of aerodynamic improvements scheduled for the next race in Miami will bring about an overall improvement in their performance, Mercedes is also planning other changes to their car in tandem over the next few races.
Speaking in the team’s regular post-race video report, technical director James Allison revealed the upcoming introduction of new parts specifically aimed at making the car handle much better.
“We have upgrade packages coming to the car, but also components that we hope will correct the underlying balance that is causing us difficulties,” said Allison, reflecting on another weekend of ups and downs at the Chinese Grand Prix.
“As much as it hurts to talk like this after a weekend like this, I just have to remember that there will be a race in the future when we do these things, when we come back and when we progress, where the satisfaction of talking about it will be enormous, and that day cannot come. soon enough.”
Allison said that while the team did a good race in China to score twice as many points, the overall performance was far from the high standards he and Mercedes expected.
“We’ve had something of a restricted car all year, especially in the slow corners, and that really stepped up in 11th this weekend.”
“Once you’ve got front tires that don’t want to go out of a corner, it means drivers have to wait an eon to go on power at the exit of the corner, you’re wasting lap time.”
“In extreme cases, to get the car to go around the corner, they have to run it around the corner with the throttle to loosen the rear end somewhat, and that kills the rear tires and it ends up overheating on the back end, resulting in a restriction up front.”
“It is no pleasure at all to be taken away from a weekend which, although competently executed and well managed by both drivers – is no pleasure at all when the hardware itself is not where it needs to be or should be.”
“Of course, the challenge we will face in the coming races is to try to move both the settings of the car and also the parts that we have put in the car so that it improves.”
The Mercedes technical director added that in Miami, Mercedes needed to change its approach to mid-weekend set-up changes, with both drivers making big moves from the sprint race to the main race in China, which did not bring the step forward they had hoped for.
“We definitely learned this weekend that if you want to be ambitious, be ambitious in the sprint race and then scale it back for the main race, not the other way around,” he added.
“I hope that we will put the car in a better place, that the upgrades that we will bring to Miami will serve us well on the starting grid, which are very close in qualifying.”
“About the part of the fight we’re in, a few hundredths can sometimes make a difference, and a few tenths would make all the difference in the world. So I’m looking forward to seeing how it all plays out.”
