F1 News
Former Mercedes chief is critical of goings-on at old team
- Cas van de Kleut
Mercedes has been struggling in Formula 1 for the past two-and-a-half years. The team that dominated everything for years during the turbo-hybrid era is now far from being the best team. Paddy Lowe, the man who was technical director at the Silver Arrows between 2013 and 2017, is therefore critical of his old team.
From often being on top to not even knowing if you will get past Q2 in qualifying. It is a harsh reality for Mercedes. The German team are currently fourth in the constructors' championship. The gap with number three McLaren is already 60 points, and after the team managed to win in Miami, they have almost twice as many points as Mercedes.
Lowe criticises Mercedes
Lowe tells Motorsport.com that his old team made the wrong aerodynamic choices. In addition, the results from the factory would not match the results on the track: "The tools they use are state-of-the-art, but the wind tunnels and the CFD have their flaws. All teams will acknowledge that. It is therefore always risky to go down a road. And if it then turns out to be the wrong one, then recovery becomes very difficult. We see that now with Mercedes. It is simply difficult at too short notice to recover."
However, Lowe believes it is not impossible for Mercedes to recover. Here he points to his time at Williams, where in 1992, they were very happy to beat McLaren, something that until then had seemed impossible. In addition, the Briton stresses that it is important for Mercedes to get things in order before the change to the engine regulations in 2026.