At Mercedes, they are still looking for a solution, a key, which can lead the team with 8 world titles, once again fighting for the top positions, now contested mainly by Red Bull and Ferrari. Mercedes still doesn't have the right pace and is in the uncomfortable and unusual position of someone who has to catch up.
A very uncomfortable position for Lewis Hamilton, used to having an accommodating single-seater that exalts his qualities. The world title number 8, the one that would have crowned him the greatest of the greats, lost by a whisker in the extreme fight with Max Verstappen, had become the goal of the 2022 season, with the arrival of the new era.
However, this new era sees the drivers of the future generation ahead of us, and then, further away, Lewis who wonders, like us, if he will be able to fight for the top positions with Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.
The W13 project isn't proving so easy to manage. The car shows the problem more than others pouring, as well as excessive drag and the difficulty in finding a configuration that can enhance performance rather than sacrifice it. In Jeddah, the very low profile of the rear wing flap did not produce the desired results or solve the drag problem. But solving these problems, at least in the immediate term, would not be so easy.
Coming from the first back - to - back of the season, it will be essential to make the best use of this week of break which will take us up to the Australian Grand Prix to put our hands on the single-seater and close the gap with the other teams, through joint work between the factory, the simulator and track. The next updates should arrive right in the next races. A new wing should arrive for Australia while a new fund for Imola.
The head Car engine and sport, reports the comment of an engineer from Brackley after the first two races: “We thought there would be less bouncing in Jeddah because the track is smoother. We were wrong. We still don't fully understand what factors trigger the phenomenon. It's a continuous learning process.". The engineer also explained that the differences in the set-up of the two Mercedes squires were minimal. In fact, Lewis paid dearly for the decision to opt for a risky configuration, on such an unpredictable single-seater.
Solve the problem of the pouring according to George Russell, who finished 5th in Jeddah, it would mean solving “99% of the problems” that afflict the single-seater of the German team.
In Melbourne, the next round of the world championship, again according to what was reported by the German newspaper, updates should arrive relating to a new interpretation of the rear wing design, in an attempt to solve the problem of the pouring, highlighted by all the teams, but in particular by Mercedes, in these early stages.
