After the victory in Canada, the fifth place came with the loss of almost the entire round for the winner, and this is Formula 1 after 2022, especially in the case of the Mercedes team. In recent years, he has shifts fantastic speeds, after which we thought they would finally do it in Brackley and unlock the potential of their monopost. However, almost every time there was a hard fall. It was no different in this case.
Mercedes deservedly won in Montreal without any help from external circumstances. Since the team won in Austria last year – although with a significant help of unpredictable circumstances – the boys arrived at the Red Bull Ring victoriously. Of course, no one expected another victory, but no one expected a minute loss in the race finish.
Even George Russell also admitted that even when he was waiting for a weak race, it was “Worse than you originally imagined”. In Mercedese they suspected that Austrian temperatures would not play their carats, so engineers tried something unusual, but they absolutely didn’t work out. “The only positive of this competition weekend is that we tried something extreme,” said the boss of the stable Toto wolff.
“It worked out in Montreal, but here in Austria we shot to our knee. We could try the settings we were driving last year and maybe we would have the podium. But we didn’t,” Mercedes boss said.
The team brought an improved rear suspension to Imola, which obviously helped to unlock more potential. However, this change has not become a response to “childhood diseases” of the W16 monopost. Austria showed that engineers still have something to learn about the functioning of the car. If they understood him perfectly, they would never elect such a set.
“We have lost a minute to the leaders, which apparently becomes defying the usual picture. At the moment we are experimenting a little with what car we send to the track and with what balance. In this case we, obviously, did it wrong,” said Wolff.
“So I do not think that the reason is factors such as temperature, rolled bends or asphalt. Sure, these facts are not our strength, but they do not explain the loss. We think we know why it happened, but after the war is every general,” He added Mercedes chief.
We know that this team has been worried about high temperatures or harsh asphalt for a long time. This has been part of the DNA monoposts of Brackley for several years. In Barcelona and Montreal, however, it was warm and yet the boys did not lose a minute. Wolff So he has another explanation for the Austrian explosion.
“From Barcelona and Montreal we tried to transfer something from the setting of the car and mechanical balance. We thought we had a certain direction and wanted to follow it. In Canada it gave perfect logic, but in Austria this alternative turned against us,” noted Wolff.
“The race simulations looked very good, we thought Kimi was the second or third fastest in the race pace. We thought we would stick to it. But the temperature and grip on the track increased, but then we thought we had to stick to what we learned on this track last year,” He added Mercedes chief.
