Mercedes picked up a meager haul in Jeddah, as George Russell was fifth and Lewis Hamilton could only be tenth by crossing the checkered flag at the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, on a weekend in which the seven-time world champion entered In crisis.
Indeed, Hamilton has never been comfortable with his W13 since qualifying, thanks to a faulty set-up for which the Englishman took full blame late in the race. The elimination in Q1 was exceptional, especially considering that his teammate was sixth.
The situation improved little in the race. Hamilton, who started on hard tyres, managed to climb a few positions to return to the points, but when he should have pitted to put on the medium ones, around lap 40, everything went wrong.
First Fernando Alonso’s Alpine and then Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren stopped, with both cars getting stuck at the pit lane entrance. Slow communication between the pit wall and the seven-time world champion prevented Hamilton from entering pit lane straight away. This cost the Englishman the possibility of a much more acceptable finish than tenth place.
“The good thing is that Lewis was on hard tires and he was quite consistent in his times,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff explained at the end of a race in which the defending constructors’ title team only collected 11 points.
“Then there were problems with Alonso’s car and Ricciardo’s at the same time, and there was a general mix-up. [Hamilton] couldn’t get to the pit lane in time and at the end, when we were able to make the pit stop, we came out behind Magnussen. And that’s where the game was over.”
Seeing Mercedes struggling after eight years of dominance has perplexed not only the spectators, but also the men of the team themselves. Wolff spoke of this difficult moment for his structure without mincing words.
“It hurts not to be in the front pack and to fight for victory at a time when F1 is putting on an entertaining show. It’s painful, but we won’t rest until we’re back fighting with the front pack. It’s not fun, it’s an exercise in humility that will make us stronger in the end”.
In the paddock, the question is when Mercedes will be able to extract the full potential of a W13 with an extreme design, but still too immature. Porpoising issues have forced the team to raise the car off the ground to reduce rebound, but to date, in Wolff’s words, the team is unable to determine what the real difference is to Ferrari and Red Bull.
“At the moment we can’t go out on track with the set-up we’d like, so it’s hard to assess what the real front-end deficit is if we could run a shorter car. I hope the gap is smaller than we have seen today, but there are gaps everywhere.
Following this, Wolff praised George Russell ‘s management of the race. The newcomer was able to optimize his package and get the best possible result with what he had in his hands.
“I think George has done a great job despite not having a car that allows him to fight for the top positions. He has shown that he has the ability to be in the leading group, but it is up to us to provide him with a car at the level he needs.” .
The Austrian director finally spoke of the spectacle seen yesterday on the track, and applauded the technical revolution that F1 wants, despite the fact that it caught Mercedes off guard.
“I think the objective has been achieved. We have spectacular racing, good overtaking and the grid has been rearranged. Obviously the latter is less fun for us, but overall if you look at the entertainment factor and the interest that has been generated around F1, I think the goal has been achieved.
