{"id":930888,"date":"2022-03-30T12:43:16","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T11:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/?p=930888"},"modified":"2022-03-30T12:43:18","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T11:43:18","slug":"russell-and-wolff-explain-mercedes-woes-but-can-they-turn-it-around","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/articles\/single-seaters\/f1\/russell-and-wolff-explain-mercedes-woes-but-can-they-turn-it-around\/","title":{"rendered":"Russell and Wolff explain Mercedes woes, but can they turn it around?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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After Lewis Hamilton<\/a> took the flag in Saudi Arabia<\/a> last weekend his race engineer Peter Bonnington told him that he had finished in 10th place. The seven-time World Champion replied, \u201cIs there even a point for that position?\u201d<\/p>\n

After years of hearing congratulatory slowing down lap messages going back and forth between Hamilton and Bonnington, with the inevitable emotional interventions of Toto Wolff, the low-key exchange was symbolic of the struggles that Mercedes<\/a> faces this year.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not quite as desperate as Hamilton\u2019s 10th place suggested, given that in Bahrain<\/a> a week earlier Lewis had salvaged a third place after the late retirements of the two Red Bulls<\/a>. Then in Jeddah<\/a> team mate George Russell<\/a> was way up the road in fifth, behind only the Red Bulls and the Ferraris<\/a>, having chosen a more effective set-up before qualifying and the race.<\/p>\n

Both races thus indicated that Mercedes has the third best car after Red Bull and Ferrari, which is at least a starting point from which to progress.<\/p>\n

However as Hamilton\u2019s nightmare Jeddah race indicated if Mercedes doesn\u2019t find the optimal set-up with the W13, rivals are ready to pounce. His P16 in qualifying, with one car crashing out early in Q1 and another not completing a flying lap, was an extraordinary sight.<\/p>\n

\n \"JEDDAH,\n
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The Silver Arrows have found themselves looking on enviously at frontrunners Red Bull and Ferrari<\/p>\n

\n Mark Thompson\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

By its own admission the team is lost at the moment, trying to make the best out of the car that it has while frantically working back at the factory to bring updates to the track that will solve the issues and find performance.<\/p>\n

In Jeddah Russell had the more effective set-up, and on paper his fifth place \u2013 having passed Esteban Ocon\u2019s<\/a> Alpine<\/a> with a bold early move \u2013 was encouraging.<\/p>\n

However, the Englishman was under no illusions after the race, pointing out the big gap that had opened up to the frontrunners over the 30 laps of racing after the safety car period. He eventually finished 32 seconds behind winner Max Verstappen<\/a>, and 22 seconds adrift of fourth-placed Sergio Perez<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe car felt good in all honesty,\u201d he said when Motor Sport<\/em> asked him how his evening had unfolded. \u201cI think we maximised the balance. We just know what we\u2019re lacking, and that\u2019s downforce, ultimately.<\/p>\n

“At the moment we\u2019re making baby steps, and we need to make some leaps and bounds” George Russell<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI was really pleased with how the performance was from my personal side. I thought it was really well-managed, I did my best to keep up with the Red Bulls especially after the restart. I gave it everything to try and stay within the DRS zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a second behind them generally. And we\u2019ve got work to do. I need to go back and review the data, but everybody knows what we need to improve on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russell acknowledged that the car seemed to be better on Sunday: \u201cI think we have a better handle on race pace than we do quali pace, but the inherent issues are still there, low fuel\/high fuel, and that\u2019s compromising us.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look at the result, we finished 30 seconds behind. I think that\u2019s probably 30 laps after the safety car, a second a lap. That\u2019s how far we were behind in qualifying as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re continuing to learn, but at the moment we\u2019re making baby steps, and we need to make some leaps and bounds. We\u2019re struggling to find that silver bullet to resolve our issues. But I\u2019ve got no doubt when we do that, we will find a chunk of lap time. As I said before, it\u2019s easier said than done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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Related article<\/h2>\n \n\t\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Russell\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRussell piles pressure on Hamilton in Jeddah: Saudi Arabian GP data analysis\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t
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Mercedes woes continue as Lewis Hamilton had a weekend to forget but is George Russell ahead in the intrateam battle already?<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t

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By\n\t\t\t\t\t\tMotor Sport<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n<\/article>\n <\/div>\n
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The heart of the problem is the porpoising that all teams encountered from the start of the Barcelona<\/a> test last month. Some soon found ways to dial it out or control it without compromising performance, or discovered what parameters turned it in on and off and thus worked out a development route to address it properly further down the line. Mercedes is by its own admission still floundering.<\/p>\n

The fundamental issue is that the W13 was designed to work at an optimum ride height, and only by jacking it up does the porpoising go away and the car become driveable over a lap, never mind a race distance. And by doing that performance is compromised.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way to run is to raise the car very high,\u201d Russell explained. \u201cAnd obviously with this ground effects car, we lose all of the downforce. So we know that if we can get the car on the ground, there’s a huge chunk of lap time there.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it’s all well and good saying that, but we can’t physically achieve that right now. We need to have a re-think.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPorpoising is something that caught all of the teams out when they first launched this generation of cars just a few weeks ago,\u201d chief technical officer James Allison noted after Bahrain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mechanisms that cause it, while not completely understood yet, are rather different from what the commentators are providing on the web and on your TV screens. How quickly each team can get on top of it and fix it is going to be quite an important thing for determining what the pecking order in the sport will be.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were caught out by it quite badly, especially when we put our first race upgrade package on in the last winter test, the amount of porpoising we saw has been quite extreme.<\/p>\n

\n \"George\n
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Russell: “We\u2019re struggling to find that silver bullet to resolve our issues”<\/p>\n

\n Grand Prix Photo\n <\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

\u201cWe are having to throw away the basic performance of our car as a smaller problem, in order to get the bigger problem \u2013 the uncontrollable bouncing \u2013 slightly under our control.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team hoped to have a better handle on it in Jeddah, a very different type of track with a newer surface and fewer bumps than Bahrain, but that didn\u2019t prove to be the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are not running the car where we wanted to run it,\u201d team boss Toto Wolff noted. \u201cAnd therefore it’s very difficult to really assess what the lap time deficit is if we were able to run the car lower. And I would very much hope that the gap is much closer to what we’ve seen today. But there’s deficits everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

In such difficult circumstances it\u2019s normal for teams to roll the dice, split the cars and pursue different routes, and in Jeddah Hamilton side of the garage was less successful.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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Related article<\/h2>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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\u201cWe’re still experimenting with set-ups to find out where the sweet spot of the car is.,\u201d said Wolff. \u201cAnd so on Lewis’s side, they went a bit bolder. And the outcome was that, basically, they had no rear end in the car. And that explains that big lap time deficit [to Russell.]<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was not a huge set of changes that happened. But they were big enough to have dramatic consequences on the performance of the car, between going out in Q1 and making it into Q3.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s why this car is so tricky to set up. We had a lower drag rear wing, we took the Gurney off, but still it wasn’t enough to shave more drag off the car.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut generally, I would say this isn’t a single problem. We have many parts of the car that don’t work, that we don’t understand, they don’t perform enough. And this is not where we all expect the car to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russell provided an intriguing insight into just why it\u2019s proving so difficult for the team to come up with solutions on race weekends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think on Lewis\u2019s side of the garage they probably went a bit more conservative with the set-up than we did,\u201d he said after the race.<\/p>\n

\n \"Lewis\n
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Mercedes is focused on solving the chronic porpoising issue<\/p>\n

\n Grand Prix Photo\n <\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

\u201cAnd that was the difference. It\u2019s a real fine line [with] getting the car in the right window. There\u2019s so many factors at play when we\u2019re bouncing \u2013 the mechanical stiffness of the car, and then the stiffness of the floors, the design of the floors, tyre pressures \u2013 that sometimes we change the set-up, we think we\u2019ve improved, but it actually makes it slightly worse \u2013 it\u2019s seemingly a little bit inconsistent.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngine mode as well – the faster you go the worse it gets, so it makes it harder for qualifying, because we turn the engines up, maximum power, and go quicker down the straight, which causes more downforce, and causes more porpoising.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we almost need to pre-empt this issue. And also in the race when you have the DRS closed you have more downforce than you do with the DRS open, and that\u2019s another factor we need to consider. So we\u2019re still learning, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re far from optimal. As I said if we solve porpoising, that would cure I would say 99% of our issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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That figure is eye-catching, but there are other factors contributing to the team\u2019s struggles. It was very obvious in Bahrain that the three teams at the bottom of the race classification were the three Mercedes customer teams. All have their own chassis issues as well, so it\u2019s not just down to the PU. Indeed in Jeddah Lando Norris<\/a> picked up a solid seventh place for McLaren<\/a>, helped by attrition ahead.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless the consensus is that Mercedes has been overtaken, and when you\u2019re missing engine performance you have to start compromising your drag and downforce levels in order to find straightline speed.<\/p>\n

All manufacturers upgraded their power units for 2022 in what was a race to meet the FIA deadline for a development freeze that lasts through the 2023, 2024 and 2025 seasons.<\/p>\n

By March 1 the four manufacturers had to freeze the V6 engine, turbo, MGU-H, exhaust system, fuel specification and engine oil specification \u2013 and henceforth no performance upgrades are allowed with those items.<\/p>\n

A second deadline in September allows for some leeway with the MGU-K, control electronics, and energy store\/battery, so Mercedes could yet find something extra. However, rivals have that same opportunity.<\/p>\n

The PU freeze is not the only restriction that Mercedes faces. The cost cap has reined in all three of the big players, and put a spotlight on efficiency \u2013 you now really have to focus your R&D resources on areas where you get the biggest bang for your buck.<\/p>\n

The ATR or Aerodynamic Testing Restrictions regulations are another key factor. As the reigning constructors\u2019 champions Mercedes had less wind tunnel time and CFD usage during 2021 as the new cars were being developed, especially relative to Ferrari, on the FIA\u2019s sliding scale.<\/p>\n

\n \"JEDDAH,\n
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All Mercedes-powered cars struggled<\/p>\n

\n Lars Baron\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

Having won the title again last year that deficit will remain in place until July, when there\u2019s a re-set based on current positions, potentially giving Mercedes an R&D edge over Red Bull and Ferrari in the latter half of the year.<\/p>\n

In simple terms the financial and aero restrictions mean that instead of pursuing five solutions to a problem and whittling them down to one that works best, you now have to start with two or three and make your final choice on which one to focus on much earlier. It\u2019s a new way of working that all top teams have to deal with.<\/p>\n

Just to complicate matters it\u2019s clear that wind tunnels and CFD are of limited use in solving porpoising issues \u2013 it has to be done in the field, with a real world car. And that means on race weekends, as there is no testing.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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Related article<\/h2>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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The focus on sorting fundamental problems means that there\u2019s been less work on the sort of fine-tuning that any title chasing team needs to do to get the best out of a constantly evolving package, especially in terms of understanding the new tyres.<\/p>\n

James Allison remains hopeful that there\u2019s light at the end of the Brackley wind tunnel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are carrying a lot of problems and a lot of problems that all have solutions and all of those solutions are within our compass to deliver,\u201d he said after Bahrain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way in which we are approaching the problems and the way in which we will bring solutions also gives me some comfort that we will get back to a competitive car quite swiftly and that we will be able to pursue the objective we have of championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a big job, it is an ambitious car, some will argue that perhaps we have bitten off more than we can chew with it.<\/p>\n

“It’s just not an option to stay where we are” Toto Wolff<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we are very good chewers in this team and we intend to put these problems right as quickly as possible, hopefully in the next two or three races, but in any case we will put them right and we will get our car back at the front of the grid competing as we all intend to, to allow us to pursue our dream of championship success.\u201d<\/p>\n

For team boss Wolff, being on the back foot is a new experience, and he\u2019s determined to turn things around.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love competition, and I’ve always loved competition,\u201d says the Austrian. \u201cAnd we had a really strong run of eight years where we were leading the pack. Not always, but we kind of managed our way into the lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd this time for me feels a little bit like 2013, where we just weren’t up to the speed with the Red Bull, and probably also not with the Ferraris. But we kept fighting, and this is how I feel at the moment. It’s certainly totally unacceptable, where we are on performance. We’re third on the road, sometimes not even. It’s just not an option to stay where we are.”<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The faster Mercedes tries to go, the more its porpoising issue is holding up progress \u2013 George Russell and Toto Wolff break down the problem<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":745,"featured_media":930921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[118712],"tags":[115462,343],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930888"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/745"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=930888"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":930961,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930888\/revisions\/930961"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/930921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=930888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=930888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=930888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}