Mercedes had hoped that after the Spanish GP it would catch up with Ferrari and Red Bull Racing, but the race weekend in Monaco made it painfully clear that this was not the case. The first race day in Baku also did not go as expected, although the Germans remain confident.
Mercedes had hoped that after the Spanish GP it would catch up with Ferrari and Red Bull Racing, but the race weekend in Monaco made it painfully clear that this was not the case. The first race day in Baku did not go as expected either, although the Germans remain confident.
Lewis Hamilton, in particular, had problems with his car in Azerbaijan. After some adjustments to his car, he had a disappointing second free practice, in which he didn't even finish in the top ten. George Russell did so twice, but also saw the gap between Ferrari and Red Bull Racing grow wide.
"Our speed on the straights isn't great either, but part of that is because we hit the ground on the straights," Andrew Shovlin analyzed in the team's press release. "We had some new parts on the car today, so we will look into whether they were contributing to our problems.
However, there is a rush for that, because by Saturday afternoon Mercedes already has to be able to make a good qualifying run. "Overall, we are not in a good position and we need to look for some fundamental improvements rather than fine-tuning," the Mercedes top executive concluded.