Mercedes Seeks Solutions After Performance Drop
The Mercedes team has called for urgent meetings before the Hungarian Grand Prix to analyze the reasons behind their recent decline in performance. George Russell, a driver for the team, has expressed his concern after a series of races with results below expectations. Since his victory at the Canadian Grand Prix, Russell has not managed to finish in a position higher than fifth place. Both he and his teammate, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, have experienced difficulties with the handling of their single-seaters. In the Belgian Grand Prix, Russell crossed the finish line in fifth place, a considerable distance behind the winner, Oscar Piastri, and only five seconds ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon, who finished sixth. Even in the cooler conditions of Spa-Francorchamps, which usually favor Mercedes, the car remained behind its competitors.Russell suspects that the changes in the regulations regarding the flexibility of the front wings, implemented at the Spanish Grand Prix, may have affected Mercedes more than its rivals. The stricter controls forced all teams to redesign their front wings, reducing the possibility of using a flexible wing to balance the car in high and low-speed corners. Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ head of track engineering, believes the problems are more complex than the change in the front wing, highlighting that the car performed well in the following race in Canada. The team is analyzing all the modifications made to the car’s design in the last races to identify the cause of the instability.We need to truly understand what is happening and why we have taken such a big step back, because these conditions today, one could argue, are ideal for us and our car, and once again, it has been the worst performance of the season.
George Russell
