After some rocky outings in the 2024 season, Mercedes finally steadied the ship to earn a decent chunk of points at the Emilia-Romagna GP. Overall, however, the mood remains somber, and there aren’t any signs that lead them toward the front any time soon. F1 insider Tim Hauraney, meanwhile, has some relieving words for those associated with the Silver Arrows.
Among the F1 community, the common belief is that “Mercedes is headed in the wrong direction”; also believed by Adam Wylde of Nailing the Apex podcast. When Wylde asked Hauraney why the Brackley-based outfit is doing the same, the latter said,
“I wouldn’t say they are headed in a wrong direction.”
The former racing driver points out that F1 hasn’t had a ‘normal’ (traditional format) race weekend in one month. The last two outings were Sprint races. And it doesn’t provide teams with a lot of time to understand their car, or make tunings. This affected Mercedes, a team that is looking to improve, especially after their shortcomings in the last two seasons.
“Toto Wolff doesn’t sound like a team principal that’s defeated,” he adds. “Instead, it’s the opposite like, ‘hey we screwed up for two years, we’ve had two years worth of bad products, we didn’t do a great job with the two years that we’ve had, now we start from ground zero again.'”
Currently, in the middle of a rebuild, Hauraney’s words resonate with those of team principal Wolff. The Austrian, too, insists that in time they will figure out how to get back to winning ways. But to do so, they need time.
What’s next for Mercedes?
Mercedes will undergo several changes ahead of the upcoming campaign. Seven-time world champion and star driver Lewis Hamilton will move to Ferrari, and some top engineers of the Brackley-based outfit are expected to follow suit.
Most we could have achieved today at Imola – double points and small steps forward with the upgrade package
Let’s keep chipping away pic.twitter.com/Dy1YtRH0pW
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) May 19, 2024
George Russell remains at Mercedes, and will be the team leader in 2025, as per Wolff. But for the 52-year-old, the focus lies on choosing a worthy Hamilton replacement. Multiple names, including the likes of Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon, and Kimi Antonelli have been linked to the Silver Arrows seat. But, nothing is close to materializing.
In the coming months, a decision regarding driver pairing should come out of the team. Meanwhile, they strive to get better on the track, and Imola last weekend showed some progress. Hamilton finished the race in P6, one place ahead of Russell in P7.
