F1
Mercedes admits pushing package too extreme in Baku
Mercedes was too extreme in the settings in Baku © Florent Gooden / DPPI
Are all means good for finding performance in Formula 1 ? In Mercedes in any case, risks were taken in Baku. On the streets of the Azeri capital, the W13 was put to the test, and so were the drivers. Victims of significant rebounds and tailgating, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton had to resist the pain. The Silver Arrows attempted to use extreme tuning to find performance, at the expense of rider comfort.
Mercedes strategy director James Vowles admits the choice of settings was not the right one for the drivers. “We pushed the package and our drivers too far. We put them through significant discomfort and we simply can't do it again. Our pilots are not the only ones suffering, you see in the media a number of comments from several pilots who are also in discomfort and pain. And we now have the responsibility to make sure this doesn't happen again. »
During the Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton complained several times of back problems and had all the difficulty in the world to get out of the car. But James Vowles made it clear that Hamilton had recovered from the Baku weekend and “will be back in the car in Montreal”, before admitting that Mercedes could not afford to repeat this kind of performance in the future.
Mercedes expects to suffer less in Canada
Back in Canada, on a track which should be less conducive to rebounds, James Volwes expects to see Mercedes get a little closer to Ferrari et Red Bull. “I think we will always have a package that will not be in the lead on a regular basis. Red Bull and Ferrari will always be the benchmarks we have to compare ourselves to. But I think, however, that the big gap seen during qualifying in Baku will not be so big in Montreal. It will have come down from where it was before and from there I am pretty sure we will make small steps and developments that push us forward. »
Despite the problems suffered in Baku, Mercedes managed to grab a 3rd and a 4th place, which brings them closer to Ferrari in the constructor standings. The German team is 39 points behind the Scuderia, despite having a zero score in terms of victories and poles this season.
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Dorian Grangier
A young journalist nostalgic for the motorsport of yesteryear. Raised on the exploits of Sébastien Loeb and Fernando Alonso.
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YVES CHAMPOD
16/06/2022 at 05:38 a.m.
3 times 1 hour of testing, so as not to try to make the Mercedes 'fly' a little higher? ! ? . . . . . . . . . . . . So many engineers, and computers, for such a poor result! . . .