George Russell’s qualifying performance, placing third, was a standout moment, but the challenges on race day were significant.
Toto Wolff, the team principal of Mercedes, openly analyzed the team’s performance at the Bahrain Grand Prix, which marked the start of the season.
Despite the optimistic feedback from Lewis Hamilton and George Russell during pre-season testing and a promising start in Thursday’s practice, the team struggled during the actual race.
George Russell’s impressive qualifying performance, securing third place, was a highlight, but the race day brought about substantial difficulties.
Both Mercedes drivers encountered issues with overheating power units, causing them to fall behind in the race standings.
Russell finished fifth, trailing race winner Max Verstappen by 45 seconds, while Hamilton, dealing with a broken seat, finished seventh.
Wolff, reflecting on the race, admitted to Sky Sports F1, “Yeah, we were far off… I mean, Max was in a different league. We need to assess why we lost so much performance on the harder tire.”
The problems were attributed to cooling issues, which forced the drivers to adapt their driving to manage the power unit temperatures, resulting in a decline in performance.
Wolff acknowledged the mistake of underestimating the cooling level, which had a cascading effect on their race performance.
Despite these setbacks, Wolff emphasized the significance of learning from the collected data and making improvements for the upcoming Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Wolff’s observations highlighted inconsistencies in the car’s performance, particularly on harder tires, and recognized several errors made by the team.
Fernando #Alonso acknowledges #Mercedes’ interest in him replacing Lewis Hamilton.
He remained hopeful about understanding and rectifying these issues, stating, “We’ve seen glimpses of performance but couldn’t capitalize on any of that today, so I’m eager to examine the data and see what we can do in Saudi.”
In conclusion, Wolff expressed disappointment in the lack of competitiveness of the cars provided to the drivers for the race, indicating a need for further analysis to comprehend the challenges faced during the race.
Following the Bahrain Grand Prix, Mercedes is currently in third place in the constructors’ standings, trailing behind Ferrari and Red Bull, with 24 races remaining in the 2024 season.