Despite the long-awaited new wing, Mercedes doesn't fly at Silverstone. The Black Arrows' Friday ended with a disappointing twelfth and fifteenth position in FP2. Not that they shone in FP1. The W14 according to the winner of the 2021 edition is rather inconsistent, and above all takes about 1 second from Red Bull. However, there is a glimmer of light and it lies in the race pace. The hopes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are hanging on to Sunday's race, when important points are at stake, and above all the podium disputed with Aston Martin and Ferrari.
Lewis: “At least there's race pace”
At Silverstone Lewis hopes to be able to make up for the disappointing result in Austria. “Long runs don't seem to be too bad. At least there is this positive aspect. The pace on the softs wasn't particularly good, but it must have been worse for the others if they weren't as fast. The weather was very windy, and this characteristic makes Silverstone the best circuit in the world: today, however, the track changed a lot from one minute to the next".
A continuous fight
But W14 he always seems to be quite a difficult creature to read and the road is uphill. If last year Lewis had to deal with it as a "test driver" weekend after weekend, this year George Russell is also experiencing the same situation. And the findings are more or less the same.
"As far as the car is concerned, we are always fighting against the same thing. It's a difficult car to drive and remains so, regardless of what we do to the set-up. On a single lap we didn't perceive any improvement between the tires, which shows that something is wrong. In the last part of the stint I had the feeling that my pace was starting to be a little more constant, I don't know why. It could be due to the wind, or to the balance. This track is all about balance."
No improvement as if the W14 couldn't give more than that. A message for your engineers to 100% abandon this project for next year?
Source statements: FormulaPassion
