Mercedes call on drivers not to let ‘points’ slide
WISBECH racer George Russell and his team-mate Lewis Hamilton have been ordered to be at their very best for tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix to help their Mercedes team dig themselves out of their latest hole, writes Daniel Moxon.
Despite optimism for their W15 car, the start of the new Formula 1 season has again been underwhelming for the Silver Arrows. Russell has 18 points to show for his efforts in the first two races, though team-mate Hamilton has managed just eight.
And the most recent race in Saudi Arabia highlighted a significant weakness of the car. But team principal Toto Wolff and his lieutenants are, at the moment, at a loss as to why their machine struggles so much in high-speed corners.
More on-track running will give the team data which it can use to help identify and fix the problem. And, for that to happen, Wolff has warned his drivers that they will have to be at the top of their game.
“We’ve been hard at work since Jeddah building on the learnings from the first two races,” the Austrian said.
“It’s encouraging to see the potential in the W15 but there are also clear areas of improvement, we have looked competitive in low and medium-speed corners but highspeed has been a weakness so far.
“We have been working hard to understand why our performance hasn’t reflected our expectations. Improving that is a major focus. We hope to make some initial progress for Melbourne, and that work will guide our development in the weeks ahead.
“It’s great to feel the energy and determination running through the factories as we work to unlock the potential of the car. “We left points on the table in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, we started off each weekend strongly, running our usual practice programmes, but couldn’t deliver on that initial promise.
“With the chasing pack being so close, maximising the potential of the car each weekend is key. Albert Park gives us another chance to show what we can do.”
Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has already explained how Mercedes plan to use practice in Australia to get on top of their issues. “We will come up with a plan for how we approach free practice in Melbourne - but it’s not just based on what we did in Jeddah,” he said.
“There’s a lot of work going on within the aerodynamics department, vehicle dynamics department. We’re trying to design some experiments there that will hopefully give us a direction that’s good for performance.”