What was behind the lack of Mercedes speed in F1 Austrian GP here

For MercedesThe joy of winning Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix evaporated in the heat of Austria George Russell The fifth house came – targeted a podium a day before a minute before the leading McClance.

Instead, under the Searring Sun in the Red Bull Ring, W16 was the heavenly weekend het of the year, suffering from tires overheating problems, which had already slowed it into other swallowing races in Jeddah and Imola.

Austria proved to be a race to forget, so also, because in addition to the minutes accumulated by MCL39, Ferrari Apart from this, an upgrade was brought on the road up 30 seconds, which took it to the position of ‘Best of the Rest’.

In Spielberg, Russell crossed the finish line with a difference of only five seconds on midfield teams, except for a brief duality at the beginning of the race with the former team partner, was more busy in mirrors than pursuing and attacking Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton,

Russell said, “I was expecting a bad race and it was worse than what I could imagine.” “The problem is so clear, coming behind Canada with victory, with overheating without tire, we are the fastest.

“But as soon as you arrive on a track, where there is a little overheating, we leave a lot. So, to be honest, the team has been working so hard for six months to solve and resolve the issue. We have got ideas, but in reality there is nothing, we are not really not yet the major headways.”

This is not just a question of temperature

Clear, direct words that highlight that overheating the tire is the most limited problem of W66. But this is not just a question of temperature. In Canada too, in fact, asphalt had reached 50 C, one step was soft compared to people used in Austria with available compounds.

Even in Spain, the temperature was close to 50C and, although it is true that the difference was less than 30 seconds and not far from Ferrari. It is to underline how the main important issues are not linked to the temperature factor alone, but for the mixture of elements, the deformation of the track and the way the car interacts with the tire.

For this reason, victory in Canada was not an anomaly, despite the heat: slow and sharp curves limited thermal stress, so that it did not allow it to allow it. McLaren To completely exploit your qualities.

Conversely, the track in Austria is actually divided into two separate regions: a strong braking classes, mixed with three straps, where DR can be used, the other is characterized by a rapidly decreasing succession that transmits a lot of energy to the tires, which increases the risk of overheating.

Right storm of problems

In qualifying, W16 Straits and hard braking areas were able to maintain speed, so much that it came close to the record speed set by McLaren. But problems in long corners emerged, especially in Turn 9, where Mercedes was clearly in difficulty compared to all other top teams.

An unusual result, as the minimum flying lap was expected to be close to Mercedes, as seen on other fast tracks such as Imola or Jeddah, where problems had emerged more at the speed of the race in situations that were still relatively cold – less than 40C.

Instead, it was a long distance speed that gave the best indications to misleading the team.

Mercedes F1 Boss Toto Wolf said, “We felt that there was a direction we wanted to go, which was completely logical to Canada, but slightly reverse for Austria,” said Mercedes F1 Boss Toto Wolf.

“And our long runs looked really good. But then obviously the temperature rose, the grip increased and you ended thinking that perhaps it would be better to live with what we already knew from last year.”

Basic set -up options did not change adequately compared to Friday, when the asphalt temperature rose by about 10 C on Saturday afternoon and the race on Sunday, Mercedes melted and went into trouble – similar to the red bull – similar to the red bull – already with difficulties seen in qualifying, especially with a rigent damart.

In fact, not only they were intense, but they also weighed on other areas of the track, with overheet tires, traction effectiveness also disappeared.

Russell said, “This is the perfect storm. It is one of the thickest asphalt of the season. It is a high -speed track, the most laps of the season and 50 ° C of the track.”

Practical question

Wolf also explained how, for the last weekend, Mercedes had chosen to carry out some experimental tests, with a scene until 2026. Prior to Canadian Grand Prix, Simone Resta had reported how the problems seen in the triple header also occurred from the set-up window issues, something that happened according to Wolf.

He said, “Later this week I only have a positive thing that we tried some extreme: Montreal did it, it was not here. We could use last year’s set-up and maybe, I don’t know, we must have ended at the podium,” he said.

“We tried to take something from Barcelona and Montreal in terms of set-up and aero-mechanical balance, but it was a wrong choice.

“Now we have tickled this box too. If we were playing for a win or championship, it would have been dramatic, but it is not so.”