LONDON: Former Formula One champions Mercedes are optimistic about returning to the fight for race victories after the August break, having dropped a rear suspension upgrade that ultimately slowed their car.
The update, first introduced at Imola in May, followed a strong start to the season where George Russell had secured four top-three finishes in the opening six races. However, Russell could only manage seventh in Italy, prompting the team to shelve the upgrade for two rounds before reintroducing it in Canada — a race he won.
That victory, however, proved deceptive. Russell’s performance dipped over the next four races until Mercedes switched back to the older setup in Hungary last weekend, where he finished third. Rookie teammate Kimi Antonelli also returned to the points with a 10th-place finish after three scoreless races.
Team principal Toto Wolff admitted the ill-fated upgrade would “be ending up in a bin somewhere.”
“We were a bit misled by the Montreal win,” Wolff said. “We came to the conclusion it needed to come off, we took it off, and now the car’s back to solid form.”
Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin noted in Wednesday’s Hungarian GP debrief that the car is now easier to work with, giving drivers more confidence to attack corners.
“If we make a new suspension, it’s to make the car faster — clearly something wasn’t right,” he said. “It wasn’t obvious at first, otherwise we wouldn’t have had the problem.”
Shovlin believes the lessons learned will aid Russell in his fight with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for third in the drivers’ standings, while also boosting Mercedes’ bid for second in the constructors’ championship.
“Budapest showed we have a good car when we get it in the right window,” he added. “With 10 races left, there are circuits similar to Montreal where we can hopefully add to our wins and create more highlights.”
Source: Reuters
