In the crops of no one

It has passed five races of the F1 World Cup 2022Y Mercedes has confirmed its crisis. It’s still far from the best, and that, for the team that has won almost everything since 2014, is still something weird. Couldn’t understand. Since last March they have presented in Bahrain a completely innovative concept carwith almost no sidepods, things are very difficult for a group that is accustomed to the greatest success.

Back then, when they presented a car that was different from the others, few thought that this big difference could mean risk or frustration. Won 8 consecutive constructors titles and 7 driver titles, surpassed only last year by Verstappen and his Red Bull, and as a team that rarely makes mistakes in all of its updates, giving the impression of being clearly left out in all aspects, most thought this single-seater would crush everyone. This created panic. But it put it on the right path, and everything changed. Mercedes He has not raised his head since.

The situation of those Brackley it is concerned. Sa Miami many highlighted the ‘good’ results of Mercedesspeaks of a must move in front of the silver arrow for finishing in the fifth position on George Russell and in the sixth with hamilton. But they didn’t think the result, just a year ago, would be a horrible run for them. A disaster.

But you have to go beyond the result. The sensations are not positive in a car driving the team desperate. At the beginning of the course, Mercedes suffering at various points. Ang W13 It is one of the cars that most strongly bounces straight (porposing) and forces them to lift the car and lose speed. They also struggled a lot to the point of having a racing car wolf He said it offers too much air resistance. And his results were greatly compromised in his poor qualification due to another major setback: his huge difficulty in warming up the tires for a quick qualifying lap.

The positive point of Mercedes in these first appointments was in the rhythm of the racethat left him like third best car from the grill, though light years away from Ferrari and Red Bull.

Miami left more doubt

Sa Miamithe leader of Mercedes, toto wolff, was taught that he would do experiments and that he had several paths to follow. Star Friday was great, but there was a catch: In Miami the heat was so intense, that the asphalt reached 60 degrees. The tremendous heat produced Mercedes did not suffer from the heat of the tires and could make quick laps. But wolf He warned and laid his feet on the ground, emphasizing that the improvement on the table was due to the track and that if they run again on Imola at low temperatures and in water, they will sink again.

The most concerned with Mercedes is after 5 races on different circuits, they still don’t have concrete answers to fix their problems. They are, as he said Wolff, “in the land of no man”.

They can’t find the potential of the car

“We were straight at the beginning, kind of flying in the fog. It is clear that there is potential in the car and that it is fast. But we just don’t understand how to unlock that potential. It’s probably a very difficult car to drive, to the limit, in and out of the performance window, more on the outside than on the inside.Wolff pointed out, noting that this car is likely to be very fast in particular conditions, but not in as wide a range as the predecessors. Mercedes who won titles. That complicates things when you consider that with new cars in the 2022 regulations, teams will have a much harder time finding the perfect settings. For Mercedes, the task is more complicated.

In this sense, the next race in Barcelona will be important for Mercedes to make more conclusions. In the Circuit where the evils and virtues of the vehicle are better understood because of the many different curves it has.

“We need to give our people the benefit of skepticism because they make great car races. We think this is the way forward, but Barcelona will definitely be a point where we can relate what we saw to the tests in February (which they did with the first version of the car, with a larger sidepod) and collect data . “Wolff, who at this time did not rule out the possibility of discarding his innovative concept and coming back. Doing so would mean wasting money using a version of the car that doesn’t work, and that, with a ceiling on the budget, will leave Mercedes with fewer options to improve on its previous version.

Hamilton, far from his best level

Hamilton, after Miami, said the car hasn’t improved at all, and his results are still impressive. Only in Bahrain did he make the podium. From there, 10th in Saudi Arabia, fourth in Australia, 13th in Imola and 6th in Miami. Lewis has been outclassed by his new teammate, the young Russell, for the last four races. In contrast, George, despite not opting for victories, was the only driver to always make it into the Top-5 in the first 5 races. The 7 times king is by far his best version and Verstappen delved into his wound: “Russell is 4th at the World Championship, so you can’t say (the Mercedes) is too bad, right?”