F1 News
'Mercedes is no longer a team that knows exactly what to do'
- GPblog.com
Mercedes has started a difficult year. There was still a surprising podium achieved by Lewis Hamilton in Bahrain, but with that everything has been said. According to journalist David Tremayne, Mercedes is no longer the team that knows exactly what they are doing.
Mercedes in trouble
In Bahrain, it was clear that Mercedes cannot compete for victories. Ferrari and Red Bull Racing are in the lead with the fastest cars. Saudi Arabia got even worse for Mercedes. At a late moment before Saturday's qualifying, the team decided to change the set-up of Hamilton's car, partly because of this the seven-time world champion did not get out of Q1.
According to Tremayne, Mercedes had to gamble because the speed of the car was not good enough in Jeddah. That gamble turned out to be completely wrong. "No longer are they a team who know exactly what to do; instead, their problems have forced them to scratch around in the dark," says Tremayne on F1.com.
Red Bull and Ferrari master low rake quickly
Tremayne admits that Red Bull and Ferrari have made great strides. According to the journalist, those teams have beaten Mercedes with the philosophy that Mercedes itself always used in previous years. Until the new ground effect rules of 2022 Mercedes always drove with a very low rake, while Ferrari and Red Bull drove with a higher rake. Now that the ground effect requires driving with low rake, Mercedes has problems.