The Mercedes is a car that performs well in a high downforce configuration, a quality that emerged after the package of updates introduced in Monaco. The Qatar track, poor in straights and full of high-speed corners, meets the characteristics of the W14, who in Lusail however feared an important variable. The sprint race format in fact allows the teams a third of the time normally available to lap on the track and experiment with the set-up. In recent months Mercedes has indicated that it needs more time than its rivals to find the right situation with the set-up, but on this front the Brackley team has made important progress.
Stability of attitude
In the previous seasonal weekends characterized by the sprint format, the results achieved by Mercedes were certainly not exciting, with the complicity of tracks that were unkind to the slowness of the W14 in the straights. In general however, the Brackley team several times needed several test sessions before finding the right setup, having to correct the one prepared in the factory on the simulator. Toto Wolff explained in Monza: “The car is still so sensitive and difficult to tune that we need more sessions [di prove] to get to the bottom of it. […] The more we ride, the more we improve and the better we can refine the set-up. Weekends with the Sprint are not the best for us, precisely because the car is such a ‘diva’.”
However, something has changed in Brackley in recent weeks. Net of the penalties imposed on the McLarens, the 2nd and 3rd places achieved in qualifying in Lusail after only one test available speak of a competitive Mercedes already on the first day of activity on the track. George Russell comments: “At the beginning of the year we found ourselves behind the pace, far behind where we wanted to be. We tried so many different things with the car. Now, probably in the last five racesthe structure remained relatively the same for each track. We know what the car needs to maximize performance. This helps us to be more consistent and also gave us a good direction for next year.”
Russell talks about a team aware of the car’s needs to extract its maximum potential. As always in Formula 1, there remains room for growth to gain a better understanding, also considering how in Suzuka the team had to review the initial set-up. The English driver, however, speaks of the team’s ability to find a certain stability of structure in the last five races. This does not mean the use of the exact same mechanical and aerodynamic adjustments on each track, but rather a common basis. At Mercedes we are starting to glimpse greater security how to make the car work properly in terms of heights, stiffness, camber angles and convergence, declining everything to the various types of track.
Looking to 2024
In recent months Mercedes has made important discoveries about the car, learning how to make it work more effectively. If on the one hand this translates into greater safety and stability in the search for set-up, on the other it also equates to decisively directing the aerodynamic development for the 2024 project. Russell continues: “When we look at our car, vwe see numerous defects. It’s not that while we watch them we rack our brains thinking about where we can improve. We recognize that there are countless areas where we can do this.”
“Recently we have made some important discoveries on the aerodynamics and on some parts of the car and it all looks really promising. We can’t promise what results we’ll achieve after the winter, because it’s still a relative game. We can only focus on ourselves. However, I have great confidence in my team. I have faith in those who make decisions and in the direction we are going, we have learned some important lessons. We won’t make a mistake like in recent seasons”, the promise of the English rider.
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