It’s been the same story for Mercedes for the last couple of years. The team brings new upgrades with the hopes that it will put them on the right path. Toto Wolff, Lewis Hamilton, and George Russell speak about how the upgrade is showing good numbers on the simulation, and then it fails miserably on the track. After a depressing Emilia Romagna GP for the Silver Arrows, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton have come out to deliver the same depressing verdict.
Mercedes brought upgrades to the Imola GP with the hopes of improving the car. And while the drivers had talked about how the upgrades have made the car more drivable and opened up the operating window a bit, it still lacks the pace of the front runners. Ferrari brought a massive upgrade this weekend, whereas McLaren introduced one at the last race in Miami. Both their upgrades have put them next to Red Bull, within a tenth of their performance.
And then there’s Mercedes, who are nowhere near the pace of these Top 3 teams but are somewhat better compared to the likes of Aston Martin, Haas, and VCARB. As a result, both Mercedes drivers had a very lonely race, miles behind the faster cars and a postcode ahead of the midfielder. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have both concluded where Mercedes is in terms of performance, i.e., no man’s land.
Speaking after the Imola GP, Russell said, “ You’re never going to be happy with a P6 and a P7. At the end of the day as a team, we scored an extra point. I lost my position to Lewis, but I’m not going to sulk over losing P6. This is where we are, right now. Little but no man’s land behind the Ferraris and McLarens and ahead of the midfield.” Hamilton supported the middle of nowhere claims as he said, “We got points so that’s a positive. Bit of in the middle, in no man’s land but I think that’s a strong finish in general for us. I don’t think there was much more for us to get.”
Regardless, Lewis Hamilton seemed to be content with the car Mercedes gave him, and we did not hear any complaints from the 7X champ, which is usually a common occurrence.
Lewis Hamilton’s encouraging exchange of words with Race Engineer Bono
Mercedes qualified P6 and P8 for the Imola GP and finished P6 and P7; that is exactly where the team has been in terms of qualifying and long-run pace, being the 4th best team. Nonetheless, unlike the start of the season, where the Silver Arrows dropped down the field, they’ve managed to improve on their race pace with the new upgrades, and that’s a big positive for the team. These upgrades were intended to do the same and point to the fact that the correlation of data has finally started to work
As the Chequered flag waved, Bono came on the radio and said, “Well done Lewis, that’s P6, mate. That was a really strong pace, especially on that hard tyre. Matching Verstappen even with just a three-lap offset, so that was really good.” To which Lewis Hamilton encouragingly replied, “Thanks Bono. Car was feeling good. Still some work to do though. Let’s keep pushing, guys. That’s for the upgrades this weekend. Good points for the team.”
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