Concerns at Mercedes: 'Baku possibly the same challenge as Monaco'

After the Spanish Grand Prix, Mercedes had renewed hope. There was even talk of the world title by Toto Wolff, but after the performance in Monaco that seems a pipe dream. George Russell finished at a great distance in fifth place, but Lewis Hamilton did not even get further than eighth place due to an inferior qualifying.

Mercedes falls back

''It was a lot harder to get the car to work around Monaco than Barcelona. In Barcelona, we had good race pace, even though we know there is still work to do to close the gap to Red Bull and Ferrari. In Monaco it's a bumpy circuit and we struggled with the ride of the car, that was affecting the confidence of the drivers to carry the speed so we couldn't drive as close to the optimal like in Spain,'' says the Trackside Engineering Director in the F1 Race Debrief of Mercedes.

In just over a week, Formula One heads to Azerbaijan where there is also a street circuit and that means there are concerns for Shovlin. ''Baku might present similar challenges. We do try to improve so we can get the car closer to the optimal window, but we know that in addition to base performance to the car we also need to make sure the car works better on a wider range of circuits," Shovlin concluded.