Mercedes wants to "raise the bar with future developments"

Since the introduction of the new regulations in 2022, the German team has undoubtedly enjoyed one of the most promising starts of the season. Rigorous and consistent, George Russell has already achieved two podium finishes and a 5th place.^e place, while his young teammate Kimi Antonelli is holding on to 5th^e place in the drivers' standings, beating in the process two precocity records at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Coming out of a still delicate 2024 season during which George Russell and Lewis Hamilton had taken the Silver Arrows to the 4^e place in the constructors' standings, 121 points behind Red BullThe difference is likely to be the wider performance window allowed by the car developed this winter. James Allison, the team's technical director, spoke about this improvement.

The W16 is easier to drive and less sensitive than the W15

“This year we have already tested different conditions, wet in Australia, hot and cold races, headwind, tailwind, and we have seen that the W16 has always worked well, developed the English engineer, which means we can extract potential more easily and raise the bar with future developments.”

Clearly better able to understand and correct past problems, Barkley's team seems to have focused on performance stability, easily observed through the initial results obtained. “The main problem with the W15 was understeer in slow corners, due to a mismatch between front and rear tire temperatures and other factors. Still according to James Allison, this made it very inconsistent from one session to the next, depending on variations in track temperature and wind direction.

A glass ceiling that’s hard to break?

Despite an almost surprising second place held in the constructors' standings after three meetings and improving results, Mercedes still appears far from being able to fight for victory. Indeed, on a dry track, it is "1 to 2 tenths" who were lost in Suzuka compared to the leaders according to James Allison who regrets that the rain was not part of last Sunday.

In Bahrain, on a much more abrasive track, the challenge will be to preserve rear tires that are often very stressed on this track. For the Briton, « McLaren has an advantage in this kind of situation over others. However, I think that, compared to Red Bull and Ferrari, we will fight for the podium, or even for better positions, if the McLarens make mistakes." There is therefore hope of achieving what could be Mercedes' best result of the season so far.

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