Heat stroke for Mercedes in Austria

Alone Valtteri Bottas saved Sunday from Mercedes in Austria. The Finn retained his third place on the Red Bull Ring, while the W10s were largely hampered by overheating problems throughout the race.

“We knew it was our Achilles heel, and we've had this problem since the start of the season, recognize Toto wolff, boss of Mercedes-AMG F1. We tried to work to reduce the loss of performance but in the end it was really hard to watch the cars just spin, not being able to defend or attack.

LBoth drivers had problems with overheating in these incredibly hot temperatures. We had to open the bodywork completely, reduce engine power, and perform “lift and coast” (action of taking your foot off the accelerator well before braking, usually to save fuel).

Despite this, we still had a certain pace, with a few good laps. We could have had our chance for victory but we were limited by the cold. »

The manager also mentioned the upcoming summer races, where the weather factor could still work against Mercedes. “We have no alternative: we must resolve this problem, continues Wolff. Notably Hockenheim and Budapest. There are no other solutions. »

Wolff also wanted to congratulate Pirelli, while the Italian manufacturer was at the heart of a possible step back on 2018 tires before this Austrian Grand Prix.

“I want to say a big congratulations to them, continues Wolff. They remained strong in the face of public opinion and produced a product that allowed them to attack until the end of the race. There were blisters in 2018, but not this year. »

The Team Principal also indicated that he did not “want to be in the shoes of the commissioners” regarding the potential penalty for exceeding Max Verstappen on Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton in the hard

Worse for Lewis Hamilton, with a front wing damaged by a kerb, which forced Mercedes to change the element during the pit stop, causing the world champion to lose a little more precious time, only fifth to arrival behind Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari).

The Briton, like his boss, underlined the need to respond to the concern of overheating. “I think we had good pace, the car was handling well, but we just couldn't race because of the overheating.

This seemed to be a limitation of our car this weekend and the other cars didn't seem to struggle as much as us, so we'll have to look at that and try to resolve it. »

Discover the full report and analysis of the Austrian Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents in Spielberg, in issue 2223 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version and this Wednesday on newsstands.