The past Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was one of the most difficult for Mercedes, and especially for Lewis Hamilton, since the start of the Formula 1 hybrid era in 2014. The seven-time champion was unable to get comfortable with the W13 and he could barely finish 13th, behind Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri, while his teammate, George Russell, took advantage of opportunities at the start to take fourth from 11th.
After the Imola crisis, the Germans returned to the Brackley factory to investigate what happened, and before the premiere of the Miami Grand Prix on the calendar, the team’s boss, Toto Wolff , explained what happened, as well as commenting the progress they have made this week without races.
“It was a difficult weekend for us at Imola,” said the Mercedes chief executive. “George [Russell] did a great job to finish fourth from an unpromising starting position, but Lewis [Hamilton] didn’t have the tools or the track position to show his true pace.”
“Since we returned from Italy, we have learned everything possible from the grand prix and, in the same way, our learning has continued in the wind tunnel and in the simulations,” confirmed the Austrian in a statement published by the German team.
The track that will host the first edition of this test in Miami will allow Mercedes to check if the work done in Brackley has been useful or if they should continue with the development in areas that they had not planned.
“We have found several directions to improve the car, and we will run experiments in Miami to correlate those simulations,” Wolff said. “We hope to confirm the development path in the next races.”
“Both drivers have been working on the simulator before Miami, and the factories have been busy producing updates for the following rounds,” continued the Mercedes boss, who wants to regain the dominance they have displayed in the last eight years of Formula 1.
“The saying ‘calm seas don’t make good sailors’ comes to mind, and this team has proven its resilience over many years. The difficult start to this season has lit a fire within every member of the team. to put everything in order,” he said.
After four rounds of the 2022 season, the Silver Arrows team has managed to take a surprising third position, with two podium finishes in the races in Bahrain and Australia, although the feeling is that they are still far from the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull.
The grand prix on American soil will be the litmus test to find out if the W13 is going in the right direction or, on the contrary, they should focus on bringing improvements to Barcelona to eliminate the porpoising effect that they accuse so much of.
“Miami is an exciting new challenge, a full step into the unknown,” Wolff said. “The track looks demanding, with a mix of low and high speed corners, and is set to be a spectacular showcase of the sport for our growing fan base in the United States.”
“So we’re set for a fantastic event, and we can’t wait to see how it all plays out,” the Mercedes boss said.
