Mercedes has not been able to win a single race this year. Last year they won a single race in the Brazilian Grand Prix. That was it for the Brackley team, and Lewis Hamilton had his first winless season. Moreover, the Grand Prix win the previous season gave false hope to the German team. They made a major mistake in carrying on with the same zero-side pod concept. Later, the Brackley team realized the zero-side pod concept was not working.
Hence, team Mercedes was finally compelled to introduce new side pods, and they did it in the Monaco Grand Prix. But they are still struggling to catch up with Red Bull’s superior pace. Recently, Mike Elliot of Mercedes mentioned that they will still push to get better performances out of the car. But the Mercedes CTO also said that their prime focus is now on the next year’s car, W15. Moreover, George Russell, in an interview with GPblog and other media houses, added that the goal is still to get a win once the season resumes after the summer break.
George Russell Believes They Can Turn Things Around In The Second Half
In the first half of the season, the 25-year-old Mercedes driver managed to get a P3 finish in Barcelona, Spain. That has been Russell’s best performance so far, just that one podium finish. Moreover, George Russell mentioned that it had been a season of two halves for him so far. He was happy with his own performance after the first six Grands Prix. Adding to that, he feels he was pretty strong initially. However, in the next six races, Russell believes he missed a lot of opportunities. Currently, Russell sits in sixth place in the Driver’s Championship. But he says that the luck swung around recently.
However, they kept struggling with the car. Moreover, Mercedes is trying to figure out why that is. But George Russell believes they have some ideas as to why they are struggling. Mercedes tried to pursue a setup direction. However, this weekend proved it was the wrong way to go. Mercedes faced porpoising issues again in Spa, Belgium. However, George Russell is confident that they can turn things around in the next half of the season. Mercedes have their eyes on their rivals, Red Bull. The focus is to win a race, and they are pushing tremendously to achieve that.
New Upgrades Have Not Yet Worked Miracles For Mercedes
Along with new side pods, Mercedes added new front and floor suspensions. Later in Silverstone, the Brackley team added a new front wing to help the car around the slow-speed corners. After all these upgrades, there were some definite improvements in the W14 car. But it did not help Mercedes get a win yet.
It is still the domination of Red Bull. They have won all the races so far. Most importantly, Max Verstappen of the Milton Keynes team has been just unstoppable. He has won 10 races and eight straight Grands Prix. Only Sergio Perez has been able to beat the Dutchman on a couple of occasions. But it is still very Red Bull’s season. Other teams like Mercedes, McLaren, Aston Martin, and Ferrari came close to P2 finishes.
