Fourth (almost fifth) force
There Mercedes is in crisis. Now there is no other term to define the situation in which the Brackley team finds itself. We are only at the third GP of 24, there is certainly time to improve, but the team that dominated F1 from 2014 to 2020 and which this year should have tried to get closer to Red Bull and duel with Ferrari has now become there fourth grid force. The Constructors' ranking doesn't lie: after three rounds Toto Wolff's team has 26 pointsjust one more than Aston Martin (left behind only thanks to the controversial penalty inflicted on Alonso) and 29 less than McLaren, which uses the power unit created by Mercedes itself in the Brixworth factory: a mockery.
Jump back 12 years
Never since Lewis Hamilton was at the wheel of the silver arrows has the team fared so badly at the beginning of the season. And the fact that this is the last year of the seven-time world champion with the team with which he became the most successful driver in history really conveys the feeling of closing of a cycle. The last time Mercedes had collected just 26 points after three races was in 2012. At the time, Nico Rosberg and another seven-time champion close to farewell, Michael Schumacher, were in the car.
U-turn needed
The big difference is that then, at the third GP of the year, Mercedes had won the race, prevailing in China with Rosberg after a badly fixed wheel had prevented Kaiser Schumi from completing a possible one-two. The Anglo-German team, at the time managed by Ross Brawn, was fifth in the standings, a position in which the Stella company would later end the season. Worse numbers were only seen in 2011, with 16 points after three appointments. A rapid turnaround is needed, also because the other candidates for the role of anti-Red Bull – Ferrari and McLaren in the lead – seem to have already taken the right direction for some time. The Mercedes compass, however, has gone crazy.
#Mercedes #crisis #bad #GPs #Hamilton
