The team that has won the last eight constructors’ championships faces a major challenge this year: reverse the complex situation in which it finds itself at the start of the regulation era.
The Formula 1 I was hoping to start a new era in 2022 that would produce changes on the grid and the forecasts have been fulfilled, at least partially. And it is that the dominant team of the last eight years has started the season as the third best team, which undoubtedly represents a great contrast in relation to previous campaigns.
While Ferrari and Red Bull were fighting for victory at Sakhir last weekend, Mercedes was simply staying ahead of teams like Alfa Romeo, Haas or Alpine, in no man’s land.
But, what has happened to Mercedes that has led to this change in trend?
Strategic error in preseason
Regardless of whether the fact of having been fighting for the 2021 World Championship until the last race has had a negative influence on the development of the Mercedes W13the truth is that the Anglo-German team did not face the preseason in the right way, according to Toto Wolff himself.
“The new configuration of Bahrain meant that we found ourselves in circumstances that they made us realize we had a problem too late. When we put the car on the track in Bahrain, we were very surprised with the problems we had, “admits the Mercedes director.
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Knowing that the Bahrain update was coming It made us perhaps not analyze the results and the data from Barcelona in the right way», reveals the Austrian leader. “It took a while to understand the issues, now we are in the process of flagging them. But that means applying science, scrutiny and hard work, physics and not mysticism.”
During the first week of testing, Mercedes ran without apparent problems with an aerodynamic set-up that changed completely for the second week in Bahrain. This meant that the team did not pay enough attention to the intrinsic problems of the car, hoping that the new sidepods would solve them.
Something that didn’t happen and that begs the question: Will Mercedes back down and ditch the shortened sidepods? “No, we have committed to the current concept and we firmly believe that it is the right way to go”ditch Wolff.
take back half a second
The Bahrain Grand Prix has shown that Mercedes must face a deficit of half a second per lap in qualifying, a figure that rises even more in race conditions.
“One of the strengths of our team is being very realistic about where we are and in Bahrain we have seen our new starting point. It is not catastrophic, but it places us in front of a very different challenge than in previous years»Wolff acknowledges.
“We have had to fight against Ferrari engines and against regulatory changes, like last year with Red Bull, and still we have been able to win championships and come very close. Now there is a new challenge»reiterates.
“We are third parties. We’re a bit optimistic about where we are in the standings and if you had told me last year I would have said it’s not satisfactory, but it’s where we are today, it’s the harsh reality. Now we know where the target is.”
“We are probably half a second away from a lap. It was more on the time sheets, but we only had one try on new softs in Q3. That is where we see ourselves, but we know where we are losing. The game of catch-up has begun”, concludes Toto Wolff.
Source: The Race
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Photos: Mercedes-AMG F1