Mercedes’ performance for this weekend will not change compared to the previous event in Jeddah, where the German team was far behind leaders Red Bull and Ferrari, even more than in the season opener in Bahrain.
The W13 is suffering from too much porpoising when the car is on the track at top speed, as well as having major overweight and drag issues. Despite this, the team is confident that they can unlock a better rhythm, although for that they will first have to find an optimal point for the configuration.
However, George Russell, who explained that he is waiting to be able to fit the pieces, assured that he has “total faith and confidence that [in the team] they will do what we expect.”
“We are way behind Ferrari and Red Bull ,” Russell said at the news conference ahead of Friday’s first free practice at Albert Park.
“We were probably further behind them in Jeddah, and we understand why.”
“But equally, I think when we have things well optimized, or more optimized [as they were] in Bahrain, we’re still 0.5 or 0.6 seconds behind. So we need to close that gap, but there’s nothing this end. week that I am going to do it”.
“It will take a while and I think we just have to be disciplined and patient, because we are so far behind and because of the cost cap we can’t afford that kind of ‘trial and error’ every race weekend either.
“We need to trust the process and bring the updates in when we have full faith that they will do what we expect. And it will be a few races before we start to see that.”
Despite the lack of updates, according to the official FIA car presentation document for the Australian GP, Russell is confident that Mercedes will be “closer than in Jeddah”.
“We were probably a second off the best pace. So there’s nothing that can really put us in contention with them, we just have to make sure we maximize our result, which is, as a team, being third fastest, making sure none of the cars in the middle zone slip between us”.
Russell dismissed rumors of possible internal frustration at Mercedes due to their current situation, insisting they are more positive than it sounds as they truly believe “there is a solution and a lot of hidden lap time if the whole package is well optimised.” “.
“We are not here scratching our heads, not understanding why we are far from the best pace, we know why that is happening and we know what we have to work on to improve it.”
“And having that knowledge and understanding of what our problems are and what we can do to solve them puts us in a pretty exciting position.”
Also at the press conference prior to the Australian GP, Lewis Hamilton said he was “very excited to get back in the car” to see if the W13 is better suited to Albert Park compared to Jeddah, where he was knocked out in Q1. totally unexpected.
“I’m just looking forward to getting in the car and trying out this new track, hopefully the feeling will be better this weekend. Although we haven’t brought any improvements, the car is generally the same as it was in the last race.”
“But we make little improvements every weekend and so I hope it feels a little bit better. Also, we have four DRS zones here, so hopefully we can race harder.”
Unlike Mercedes , other teams have brought updates to Melbourne, Red Bull installed a new front wing plate that features changes to both the front and top edges of the wing looking to twist backwards and downwards.
Its aim is to “maintain aerodynamic performance while reducing the volume and weight of the car”, according to the FIA document announcing the updates before each grand prix.
Ferrari have updated their diffuser with a “packer (around the center line of the car) in the area of the diffuser”, with which they will try to improve both rear downforce and the stability of the car over a full lap.
McLaren increased the size of the side of its rear wing, seeking better aerodynamic performance at the rear of the car.
Alpine have brought a completely revised floor to Australia to try and increase downforce and improve overall flow at the rear of the car.
The team of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon also has a rear brake drum that is now slightly different from the one used in the first two races, which is aimed at improving downforce in the area.
