In home Mercedes there is a somewhat ambiguous situation, there are those who are not confident in the current project, and there are instead those who believe in the W13 project. Toto Wolff does not give up and trusts in the current car after the flashes of potential shown in Miami.
Back to Catalunya
After almost three months it's back to Montmeló circuitalbeit under somewhat different circumstances. If at the end of February we arrived on the track with the intention of correlate the data on the track with those of the simulator, this week we come to the land of bullfighting with the intention of maximize points and performance in view of a world championship fought on all fronts; but will it be like this for everyone? Not entirely; Mercedesin fact, he left the pre-season tests with little useful data, as the car brought had very different shapes from the one kept hidden from prying eyes; then shown to the public in Bahrain between opponents panic e curiosity of technicians. Brakley's team would never have said it, but returns to Catalan soil with lots of work to do to try to shorten the gap from the summit. Instead of 'basking' in the search for performance like someone who has done their homework well in view of the change in regulations, Mercedes has to continue the knowledge of the tight-bellied dancer car.
Uphill road
It seemed like a matter of sessions, but the phantom potential of the W13 does not want to know to get out of the den. While the two leading teams focus on developments, the star team is condemned to make badly digested modifications to the car of the two British drivers. Since the beginning of the season the gap with Ferrari e Red Bull è been increasing, but there are those who see one in occasional exploits like the one seen in Miami light at the end of the tunnel.
Wolff doesn't give up
Just the Mercedes team principal Toto wolff, expressed himself on the car and gave trust your team"In terms of performance we know we have the third best car of the lot and in Miami we got the maximum possible points. During Friday practice in Miami, the W13 showed flashes of its true potential. We continued to experiment with the set-up, fitted some new components and they delivered answers and indications on the directions to take. In Brackley we worked hard to analyze the data from the Miami GP and transform it into improvements for the Spanish GP in Barcelona. Having already ridden there in winter testing, even if the car has evolved a lot since then, it will be a good place to correlate information that we have on the current car and we hope to be able to take another step forward”.
All on the track
Wolff then continued by focusing on the characteristics of this Sunday's Catalan stage: “The track itself is good, tests every aspect of the car. It has never been ideal for overtaking, so it will be interesting to see how this generation of single-seaters affect the show in Spain." The Austrian manager then concludes by saying that we are only at the beginning of a long journey, and there is time to recover if the major problems are resolved: “If we speak in basketball terms, we go to Barcelona at the end of the first quarter of the game. We know that, once the acquired knowledge has been translated into the track regarding our performance, subtraction still a lot to play".
Last call
As anticipated a few days ago, the Barcelona Grand Prix it will be a watershed which will decide the work of the Mercedes technicians. If the engineers can see some potential and think it will be enough, the project W13 will be able to continue; but if on the contrary the results are still disappointing, the team could take the drastic decision to abandon the current project focusing on next year. In the second scenario, it is clear that the image of the silver team will suffer the consequences, therefore the evaluation by the team leaders will have to be of surgical precision, in order to avoid foolishness or worse, waste of potential.
SOURCE: Motorsport.com Italy
