The first two races of the season have been far from optimal for Mercedes. Aiming for a resurgence, the Silver Arrows have had average outings in both races despite showing a lot of promise. Experiencing the car firsthand, George Russell has noticed a peculiar pattern with the W15. They start a race weekend on a good note but fall in performance as the weekend progresses. Addressing the same in a report by Planet F1, Russell claimed his team needs to understand why they are getting slow over a weekend.
Russell claimed that the W15 does a good job during the practice sessions, topping the charts. However, as the weekend progresses, the pace falls away from them. As such, their competitors gain an advantage over them on the day that matters the most.
“That hasn’t been our competitors getting faster. That has been us getting slower. So we need to understand why that is.”
Showcasing a completely new car concept this year, Mercedes only had a resurgence on their mind. Lewis Hamilton is also driving in his last season with the team, and they want to make it a special one for him. However, a car that loses performance over a weekend will only harm the team’s plans, and they need to find a solution soon.
Moreover, the team’s chances of winning a race also continue to fall amid dominant displays by Red Bull. The Austrian team has been even more fearsome than last year, and the RB20 is an aggressive evolution of the RB19. As things stand, it looks like Mercedes might be looking at their second consecutive season without a race win. However, there are still chances of a turnaround by the Brackley-based team.
What is Mercedes doing to address the concerns of George Russell?
Mercedes are in the third year of problems with their car. The British team is running out of answers for their problems, given there is just one thing that is fundamentally wrong with the team. Autosport quoted the words of Toto Wolff as he explained Mercedes’ struggles with their simulator. Per Wolff, the sim points them in a certain direction, and they put the rear wing of the car accordingly. However, instead of gaining “a few tenths” of lap time, Mercedes end up losing it. The speed is not there for the team. Even the expected downforce ends up not being there for the W15.
Nonetheless, Wolff is certain his team will move past these shortcomings and come back stronger. He claimed they are giving it a “massive go” for the race in Melbourne and aim to come back stronger. After two years of struggles, Wolff is not in favor of going another year without being able to spot the problem. There is a lot more data for them to understand, and Wolff is “100% sure that we are going to unlock that performance gap.”
