Mercedes ‘on the way’ in make-or-break weekend
British drivers in top three after practice in Barcelona Hamilton claims W13 car is starting to deliver on potential
in Barcelona
Have the Silver Arrows found their silver bullet? That was the big question on paddock lips in Barcelona last night after Mercedes enjoyed another fruitful Friday, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finishing second and third-fastest respectively in practice ahead of tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix.
Naturally, both drivers, no doubt mindful of the fact that they exhibited similar encouraging pace in Friday practice ahead of the last race in Miami, only to lose their way over the weekend, furiously played down their chances of mixing it with the big boys, Ferrari and Red Bull.
Russell had already insisted before practice that the Brackley team – who have arrived with substantial upgrades to their car, which they have already tested at a “filming day” at Paul Ricard on Wednesday – had not “suddenly found that killer switch” to bump them up into the podium positions. They were, Russell said, merely hopeful that they had found some answers to point them “in the right direction”.
Even after finishing just 0.117sec off the pace of Ferrari’s championship leader Charles Leclerc, with Hamilton only 0.087sec further adrift, Russell was playing it ubercautious. “I don’t know to be honest,” he said. “In Miami, we were the quickest on Friday, so let’s see.”
However, neither Russell nor Hamilton could completely disguise their optimism. “The car is definitely reacting differently and we definitely don’t have the porpoising on the straight,” Russell admitted, referencing the kangaroo-like bouncing up and down which has plagued Mercedes’ season thus far.
“Yeah, that was good,” agreed Hamilton, who described himself as “super happy” with the progress made since Miami. “Big, big, big thank you to everyone at the factory for not giving up and continuing to push,” he added.
The big question is whether this is another false dawn or whether the improvements are for real. After the frustrations of Florida, there is a make-or-break feel to this weekend in terms of Mercedes’ car.
No one is denying the W13 has potential. The problem is the team have been scrabbling in the dark trying to unlock it, or “flying in the fog”, to borrow team principal Toto Wolff’s description. The Austrian admitted in the wake of Miami, where Russell and Hamilton finished fifth and sixth respectively, that the team’s engineers were completely baffled by the data they were getting off the car as it did not correlate with the feedback their drivers were giving them.
This was, Wolff said, an unprecedented issue for the eight-time constructors’ champions. His words led to renewed speculation that if Mercedes continue to flail around, they could yet abandon the W13’s current design concept and revert to an earlier iteration, specifically the shape of car they used at the first pre-season test in Barcelona in February, before it was shorn of its sidepods.
Wolff has conceded more than once that the team will have to make a “big decision” at some point if they cannot get to the bottom of the car’s woes, which effectively boil down to how the floor interacts with the road, and how to stop the porpoising which has so afflicted them (the sidepods are, in fact, thought to be a slight red herring, being merely the most visible point of difference between the car as it was in Barcelona and how it was in Bahrain, although they could have an impact on the bouncing in that they leave a bigger exposed surface area on the floor that the team need to stiffen).
The reason this weekend is seen as so crucial is that the Circuit de Catalunya, more than any other track, offers a reliable performance guide. With the amount of testing teams do here, they have a baseline they simply do not have anywhere else. Russell admitted before practice that the weekend was a key one in terms of Mercedes’ season.
“We don’t get much track time, but Miami was a taste of the direction we want to take and this weekend will be a second taste,” said the 24-year-old, who was behind the wheel at Paul Ricard on Wednesday.
“I think we will have a good conclusion after this weekend whether we continue down the path we have chosen, or whether we need to go on a different path.”
That is likely to boil down to whether this time, unlike in Miami, Mercedes can not only hang on to the pace they have shown in Friday practice, but they can figure out why they have it in the first place.
If they can – and despite their public pronouncements to the contrary – it is not yet inconceivable they could drag themselves back into the title equation.
There are still 17 races remaining. Plenty of points to be won and lost. And both Ferrari and Red Bull, for whom Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen were fourth and fifth fastest respectively in practice, have dropped plenty of points already this season.
First things first, Mercedes have to keep the pace they showed yesterday. “I think we’re on our way,” Hamilton admitted last night.
“That’s the first time I’ve driven down the straight without bouncing. Well, we still have some bouncing. But it’s way, way better. We’re starting to eke out the potential.
“So yeah, really grateful for these upgrades. Now we just have to finetune them.
“I think we can get it into an even better place for tomorrow, so that, hopefully, we can bite at the heels of the guys ahead.”