Despite having dominated the Belgian GP before the summer break, Mercedes had a disastrous weekend in Zandvoort. However, team insider Anthony Davidson recently cautioned against counting out the Silver Arrows as he believes that they can still win a couple of or even more races in the remainder of the 2024 season.
Mercedes was on the back foot on Sunday as George Russell started from P4 and Lewis Hamilton from P14 [due to his Q2 exit and a grid penalty for impeding]. Both drivers were never in the fight for the victory or even the podium. It got worse for them later in the race with high degradation on the hard tires and they eventually had to settle for seventh and eighth.
On the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Davidson pointed out how this season has been more unpredictable than any he remembers in a long time where three or four teams are in the mix to challenge for race wins depending on the racetrack and the conditions.
He also highlighted how Mercedes was extremely strong at both Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps. So, counting them out just because of an off weekend in Zandvoort makes little sense. He said,
“You can have Mercedes dominating a race like we saw in Silverstone and how fast they were in Spa. And then it’s easy to forget that just in one Grand Prix after we go to Zandvoort… No, they’ll be back, they will probably win another race or two or maybe more through to the end of the year.”
The Silver Arrows had turned a corner with their car performance and their consistent podiums and wins since the Canadian GP are evidence of the same. So, their Dutch GP struggles were an odd phenomenon. It perhaps underscores the track-dependent nature of this season.
Davidson also mentioned that predicting which team will have a good weekend at which venue is a futile effort as the field has bunched up a lot in 2024.
More upgrades are not guaranteed to bring success, says Davidson
The former F1 driver also highlighted how the teams have not been able to predict if their upgrades are going to work as expected. Some teams like Ferrari have even gone backwards in terms of performance, as they have continued to upgrade the car.
Many teams had to revert to their old spec cars to understand where they went wrong in their design philosophies. VCARB is the perfect case in point of going backward since they upgraded the car in Spain. Even Red Bull and Ferrari have had to revert to old-spec versions of some parts to restore the balance of the car depending on various tracks.
Helmut Marko jokes about Red Bull’s upgrades
“I would rather call them downgrades.”
“But I am optimistic. We were recently beaten well below our value. Qualifying will be particularly important in Zandvoort. Together with McLaren, we are certainly among the favorites.”… pic.twitter.com/ApSJCpOWVZ
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) August 22, 2024
It could be the case that some of the teams have hit a ceiling in regards to developing the car any further in the current ground effect regulations and more teams could run into this problem going into the 2025 season. So, the best hope for most midfield and backmarker teams would be to bet on the new regulations that will come into effect in 2026.
