Mercedes had a pretty challenging couple of years. At first, they had to cope with the fact that their arch-rivals, Red Bull, had overthrown them. From 2014 to 2020, Mercedes ruled the F1 stage, winning all the constructor’s and driver’s world championships. Nobody came close to beating their hegemony. But in 2021, a rising superstar of Red Bull beat the then-reigning champion, Lewis Hamilton.
The Silver Arrows had won the constructor’s championship in 2021 but could not defend the driver’s world title. Since then, both Hamilton and Mercedes have seen too much failure. The team had won just one race in Brazil since 2022, coming to the middle of 2023. However, Lewis has not been able to win a single Grand Prix since the penultimate race in 2021 in Saudi Arabia. But recently, in Spain, Mercedes had their first double-podium finish in 2023. However, they had to pay 10,000 euros as a fine for breaching parc ferme rules.
FIA Fines Mercedes 10,000 Euros For Breaching Parc Ferme in Spain
In the recent Spanish Grand Prix, Mercedes had a terrific outing as they had their first double podium finish this season. It was Lewis Hamilton’s second podium finish this season and 193rd overall in his career. He finished at P2 as he did in the Australian Grand Prix as well, finishing behind the same name, Max Verstappen. But Mercedes must feel the change in the car’s performance with new upgrades. Hence, it might boost the confidence of the people in Mercedes’s camp. But it can’t be all good on the team’s front of the kind of luck they have been facing through these last couple of years. After the Spanish Grand Prix, Mercedes will have to pay 10,000 euros as a fine due to the team’s assistants and physiotherapists entering the parc ferme.
Apparently, team Mercedes had breached the rules of the podium ceremony. According to FIA, a few team mechanics, cooling fans, officials, television crews, and so on can only enter the parc ferme area. Moreover, the governing body requested the German team’s physios of George Russell and Hamilton, plus a team representative, to report to the stewards of the Sunday race. However, it is not the first occasion when the FIA has asked teams to pay fines for such breaching of a rule. Last year, the top three drivers of the Austrian Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, and Lewis Hamilton, had to pay a similar fine after the team physios breached the rules laid down by the media delegates on that day.
The Silver Arrows Struggling Due To It’s Car
Team Mercedes has struggled a lot because of the car they made within the new technical directives. The Mercedes W13 in 2022 cost them heavily because of the porpoising issue. The car was not ready to tackle the trouble of porpoising. Hence, it caused so much bouncing that Lewis Hamilton and George Russell failed to get anything out of the car. Instead, they got hurt badly with back and neck pain along with several bruises.
Then the German team made the fatal mistake of not changing the concept of the car while building W14. After the first six races, Toto Wolff’s team has fallen far behind Red Bull. On top of that, their arch-rivals are cruising to win back-to-back constructors’ championships. But it seems like the Brackley team has made some crucial upgrades, and it is working. They implemented the upgrades at first on the tricky street circuit of Monaco. It did not help the team to get a podium finish though.