(Motorsport-Complete.com) – No, Toto Wolff can not draw a constructive conclusion after the Method 1 race in Spielberg: “Brutally tough, even worse than we thought”, the Mercedes motorsport boss quarrels with ‘Sky’ with the positions seven and eight for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, who did not have a say within the battle for the rostrum.
Hamilton was virtually 40 seconds behind race winner Max Verstappen. Should you take into account that he got here to the pit cease two laps earlier than the top to vary tires, the hole is extra like a minute – with Russell one other 9 seconds extra.
“The automobile was simply sluggish,” says Wolff, who would not wish to converse of a black day, however of a foul one. “We had a great upward pattern, now we’ve made an actual step backwards into the pit of the abdomen.”
As a result of on the final race in Canada you had completed on the rostrum, earlier than that in Barcelona even twice. In Spielberg, then again, you even needed to be ironed by Lando Norris in a McLaren.
“Lando did a terrific job as we speak, they have been very quick and we did not count on them to be that quick,” says Hamilton, however admits: “We weren’t anticipated to be that dangerous both. This observe confirmed us some areas to work on – positively not the perfect day.”
Early issues with observe limits
The Brit says Mercedes have not had a robust rear all weekend. “So we took away a whole lot of the entrance wing to maintain the stability.” However that introduced new issues. Hamilton complained, particularly within the early levels, that his automobile would slide – particularly at Flip 10.
“I could not do something about it and that is why I used to be scuffling with the observe limits,” says Hamilton. The Mercedes driver dedicated a complete of 5 violations and was given a time penalty of 5 seconds. Somewhat later he began counting the violations of different rivals as properly.
“In fact it would not assist when you get penalties,” says Wolff, who repeatedly switched to Hamilton’s automobile to calm the British. So he radioed: “The automobile is dangerous, please drive it.”
However the Austrian says the penalties did not change a lot within the consequence: “Possibly we might be forward of Fernando [Alonso] landed”, however basically Mercedes and Aston Martin have been “nowhere with the tempo”.
Only a set-up drawback?
“Since Friday we noticed that we have been lacking just a few tenths and we could not make the automobile sooner. As quickly because the tires began to slide, both when braking or within the nook, we did not have any extra grip,” says Wolff. “That contributed to our lack of efficiency, however we have to analyze it extra carefully.”
Lead race engineer Andrew Shovlin can also be nonetheless groping at the hours of darkness: “Now we have to search out out to what extent this was as a result of we did not get the set-up proper and to what extent it was simply the fundamental efficiency,” he says.
“We have not introduced any updates for the previous few races, so it is also attainable that we’re missing in growth. Now we have plans to handle that, however being behind Ferrari was actually a problem as we speak,” stated Shovlin.
Russell had hoped for extra
George Russell did not go as far ahead as he would have appreciated, both. He received caught in Q2 after a foul qualifying session and needed to begin eleventh. However whereas he nonetheless managed to get on the rostrum in Barcelona, he could not do higher than eighth as we speak.
“Very difficult,” was his conclusion. “Issues with the entrance and rear tires, we simply weren’t going quick sufficient. It was fairly shocking that we have been clearly not in the appropriate window. I can not say why that was. After we have been in Barcelona and in Montreal, it was It was promising. Right here it was nothing.”
Russell admits he was “hoping for extra” from the Grand Prix. “Now we have the identical automobile as in Barcelona, the place we did properly, so we have to perceive what went incorrect for us,” he says.
In form once more at Silverstone?
“The automobile actually would not really feel like we wish it to for the time being. It is shifting rather a lot and it felt a bit worse than at different tracks this weekend, however the tempo was rather a lot worse, so we have got to get on that go to the underside.”
Nonetheless, the Silver Arrows are in good spirits that the short-term crash is barely as a result of distance. “The fluctuations from racetrack to racetrack are fairly fascinating. Generally we’re Crimson Bull’s closest challengers and generally we battle,” says Wolff.
Russell is inspired: “That bodes properly for Silverstone, as a result of the observe is extra just like Barcelona than Austria.” And: In line with Wolff, Mercedes may have one other improve of their baggage there. “We’ll see if the observe fits the traits of our automobile extra, after which we’ll see and analyze it.”
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Revealed : 2023-07-02 18:10:14
