Mercedes in the dark after Russell issues: 'We don't know where we stand'
The Formula 1 winter test in Bahrain is so far not going according to plan for Mercedes. On the second day of testing, George Russell was forced to pull his W14 over due to a hydraulic problem, after which the session was over for the team. Toto Wolff and Andrew Shovlin admit that Mercedes does not know where it stands at the moment.
Issues for Mercedes
Technical problems made Mercedes the least productive F1 team of the day. Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin acknowledges that the second day of testing was far from ideal for his team. "We've not had a strong second day; stopping on track with a reliability issue wasn't great and we have struggled to get the car balanced well across the changing conditions," he said in a Mercedes press release.
Before Russell's stoppage, the German racetrack also did not have a top day. "We have struggled to get the car balanced well across the changing conditions," Shovlin continued. "We've got some investigations going on to understand why this has been such a challenge today when yesterday it was fairly straight forward."
After working through the night, Mercedes will know more on Saturday morning, according to the Briton. "It will be interesting tomorrow to see if we can understand the drop in performance and mitigate the lost track time," Shovlin said.
In addition to Russell's hydraulic problem, Mercedes also suffered from a loss of downforce on the front axle, according to Auto, Motor und Sport reported. The cause could not yet be identified and the team is even said to have gone into emergency consultations. Toto Wolff hopes there will be an explanation on Saturday morning, but does not sound very positive yet. "We're a bit lost, as we don't know where we stand right now," said the Mercedes team boss.
Both the drivers were struggling as their car balance was completely off, especially the back end. They did lose precious track time and are definitely on the backfoot. Their might have the pace but certainly lack stability.
Perez was doing the same times as Mercedes. Reason: he was doing his program and not focussing on fast lap times. Mercedes may be doing the same. We will see the real picking order next week.
Fair comment if the erratic rear of the Mercedes is deliberate. Maybe that was the most Sergio could get out of the car and will take a little longer than Max to settle in.
Poor Russell. Car running flawlessly for his team mate, as stated in the contract, probably.
I was hoping for Angela after 24 races without a race win bonus he would earn at least 1 in 2023 but not looking overly promising if testing week is any indication.
Look up the difference between misogynistic and sympathetic and get back to me. Reported for nonsense.
Not sure about the hydraulics but the rear looked all over the place when the car was asked to do that little more. The FIA has 1 week to change the regulations to get right whatever is wrong with Mercedes.
Right on the dollar. But the FIA pushed away the guy who was hellbent on helping them, Ben Sulayem. It'll cost them a lot. Quick question, do bribes count against the budget cap or is that exempt?
What are you trying to say? Can you please climb back under the rock you came from. Thank you
the fact that you think he wants to say, is actually that you are thinking the same. otherwise you wouldn't have come up with this specific question but you would have thought, what a nonsense..
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