Mercedes had a bittersweet outing at the Chinese GP, where they had a fairly better outcome in the Sprint race compared to the Grand Prix on Sunday. The Silver Arrows claimed eight points on Saturday, courtesy of Lewis Hamilton’s P2 and George Russell getting P8. However, this tally increased to only 10 points in the Grand Prix on Sunday as the team struggled to extract more pace and fight for the top five. Citing these results in China, James Allison revealed that Mercedes learned how to gamble, but the hard way.
“We definitely learned over this weekend that if you want to be ambitious, be ambitious in the sprint race and then adjust it for the main race rather than the opposite,” said Allison, as per Formu1a.uno.
A Sprint podium for Lewis and some strong moves by George to pick up the final point. Good work pic.twitter.com/Lvnn17jR49
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) April 20, 2024
Allison and Co. may have thought about this approach towards sprint weekends after Lewis Hamilton mistakenly drove with extreme set-up changes for the Grand Prix after his P2 finish in the sprint. It did not do the Briton any favors as he started in a lowly P18 and managed to recover to only eighth.
This makes sense as teams this year can experiment on their set-up twice in the Sprint race weekends, unlike last season. The parc ferme will open up after the sprint race before the Grand Prix qualifying. Therefore, they have the chance to rescue themselves if they mess up in the Sprint and rectify the set-up for the Grand Prix.
But, it’s also a double-edged sword and can result in the opposite, as happened with Hamilton in Shanghai. The seven-time world champion finished the Sprint in P2 Saturday, but then in qualifying later, he was out in Q1!
What went wrong with Mercedes and what’s next?
Lewis Hamilton apologized to his team and the fans for trying out an extreme set-up for the Chinese GP race and vice versa. As the set-up did not help him, the W15 wasn’t kind on the tire degradation either. The Shanghai International Circuit is a track with high tire degradation, and the recent resurfacing did not help the cause.
However, as Allison already informed that Mercedes learned the hard way, they are unlikely to follow the same path in Miami up next. The 2024 Miami GP is set to the second Sprint race weekend of the season and together with Hamilton, the Brackley-based team would want to execute their lessons from China.
Interestingly, Mercedes is all set to bring upgrades in Miami, with which the German team would want to get rid of the balance issues they have been facing off late. “We have upgrade packages coming for the machine, but also components that, we hope, will correct the underlying balance that is causing us difficulties,” added James Allison.
Once the upgrades are in place, Allison and Co. would look to increase their lead from Aston Martin and look to chase McLaren for P3. Currently, they have 52 points after five races, compared to Aston Martin’s 40.
