Mercedes would struggle on a lap with the soft tire

The Mercedes de Lewis Hamilton et Valtteri Bottas made a strong impression in the second practice session of the Monaco GP by relegating their closest pursuers to at least 7 tenths. The Silver Arrows are once again favorites for victory on the Rock, but the star-studded team believes they still have performance to gain on their W10s, particularly in the timed lap exercise.

“We started FP2 with the medium tires. We expected to have a bit of work but they actually worked well, says Andrew Shovlin, head of track engineering at Mercedes. But we still have problems on the first lap with the soft tires, despite the higher temperatures this afternoon. We were also hampered during the long relays by the very heavy traffic. The drivers struggled to complete two laps in a row cleanly. We were not able to collect all the information we wanted, but we will have a little more time than usual to analyze the data. »

If Andrew Shovlin points out the weaknesses encountered on the Mercedes during testing, he cannot hide the fact that the German cars remain the benchmarks to beat this weekend.

“The first session went well, the day was fairly quiet and the drivers were able to enjoy a fairly free track, added the engineer. The car was fairly well balanced when the tires were up to temperature. We made few changes at the break as we expected the track to gain a bit of grip. Our priority is to make the soft tire work from the first lap. »

Mercedes could clinch a 6th consecutive double this weekend and remain undefeated this season.