The Mercedes team is dissatisfied with the results of the practice on the track in Baku, and one of the biggest problems is the continuous build-up of the car longitudinally at high speeds.
Lewis Hamilton (12th): “The biggest problems today had to do with the build-up of the car, so my head hurts a bit, but overall it’s going well.
By the end of the session we were reaching quite high speeds and on bumps the car hits the track a lot, so we have the same problems as in the last race.
Between sessions, we decided to experiment with my car’s settings, but honestly, nothing good came of it. But at least we tried, collected some information, but tomorrow we will most likely return to the previous settings.
If we talk about tires, then everything is fine with them, they work efficiently. To say specifically, because of what I’m losing a second and a half per lap, I can’t. But it’s too much. I think we lose the most in the straight line, so we have to analyze everything and find a solution tomorrow.”
George Russell (7th): “It was not an easy day, we were less competitive than we would like. Difficulties in heating the rubber to the desired temperatures are repeated. We saw that some drivers did not get their best laps until the end of the series, while Ferrari and Red Bull Racing went fast right away. So far their cars are clearly faster than ours, but we are doing everything we can to overtake the front runners.
On the one hand, I think our biggest problems are related to tires, on the other hand, even if we find the right approach to rubber, we still won’t catch up, because the backlog is too big. So only 50% of the problems are related to tires and the remaining 50% is due to the fact that we simply don’t have enough speed.
The ground clearance of the cars is very small and in fast corners they hit the bottom of the track, so it’s uncomfortable to drive, but everyone is on an equal footing. I don’t know what the future holds for this generation of cars, but I can’t imagine that we will experience the same difficulties for another four years. This all needs to be discussed, because everyone has the same problems.
Andrew Shovlin, Chief Race Engineer: “The first session was in warmer conditions and for us it turned out better than the second, when it got a bit cooler. In any case, we need to work on adding to one fast lap as well as a long series of laps.
The imperfect balance is not the biggest problem, but we just don’t have enough grip in the corners and the low clearance makes the riders feel uncomfortable on the straights, and in the evening this all needs to be sorted out. The top speed on the straights also leaves something to be desired, but that is partly because the cars hit the bottom of the track.
Today some new components have appeared on the machine and now it is necessary to check if the problems are related. In general, our situation is not the most favorable, so we should not be fine-tuning, but looking for solutions to fundamental problems.
Source: F1 News
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