As Mercedes F1 grapples with a controversial new flat floor, Hamilton and Russell offer reassurance ahead of Monza, dispelling fears amidst a string of underwhelming performances.
Ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, Mercedes F1 was coming off a remarkable streak of three wins in four races.
However, Zandvoort was a disappointment for the team… Mercedes F1 was only the fourth fastest team, behind McLaren, Red Bull, and Ferrari.
Weather conditions and a few errors in settings are undoubtedly to blame for this underperformance.
But concerned glances are also directed at the new flat floor of Mercedes F1. There is reason for suspicion: this flat floor had been tested and then abandoned in Belgium, before the break! Before reappearing at Zandvoort. James Allison had even publicly questioned the matter…
But according to George Russell, speaking in the Monza paddock, the new flat floor is not to blame for the result at Zandvoort. Really?
“This weekend will be another opportunity for us to test it. Ultimately, when you bring an evolution to the car, you’re talking about one or two tenths at most, but the performance varies by a number of tenths from one race to another. If you have a bad weekend that coincides with an evolution, it’s very quick to say ‘it must be because of the evolution,’ but if you do six races in a row with the same package, your performance will fluctuate by half a second compared to your rivals.”
“I am convinced that the flat floor works as intended and I think the problems we encountered at Zandvoort were not due to the evolution. Now, we have another opportunity this weekend.”
“Maybe we can do something different after Monza. I am convinced that the evolution works as we think.”
If it’s not the flat floor, then how does George Russell explain the poor form at Zandvoort?
“At Zandvoort, we definitely underperformed. We had a number of ideas to explain this. I think it was a very challenging weekend with very strong winds. The asphalt was very old and there was a lot of sliding on our cars.”
“McLaren was exceptional, but I hope this week will be a bit more positive after the lessons we learned from Zandvoort. It’s one of the changes we made to the car and we knew it wasn’t quite moving in the direction we wanted to go.”
“But it wasn’t obvious at the time during the race weekend. It was only afterwards that we realized. We need to avoid this at all costs and move forward.”
Hamilton is also reassuring for Mercedes F1
Is Lewis Hamilton’s explanation the same? Wasn’t he shocked by his team’s underperformance at Zandvoort (recall that the Briton was eliminated in Q2…)?
“It wasn’t a shock. We just struggled to find the balance in the perfect window. And I think you could see with these cars today that it’s often the case… I mean, it’s particularly the case with our car, but many teams experience it. It’s a bit on the edge and can easily tip one way or the other.”
“Looking back, we see some things and we would have done things a bit differently. The real pace? I think I was the third fastest on average throughout the race. Our race pace was not great and the results did not show the true performance in the race.”
At Monza, does Lewis Hamilton believe Mercedes F1 could have returned to its Spa form?
“I am certainly more optimistic approaching this weekend, because I think the car will be more enjoyable to drive. But there are others bringing upgrades this weekend. So, you have to expect Ferrari to be fast with its upgrade. You must expect McLaren, with the advantage in the last lap that (Lando Norris) was able to pull off during the last race [fastest lap on worn hards at the last lap, ed.], to be quick this weekend. So, I hope we will be there or thereabouts.”
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Hamilton, Russell Calm Fears Over F1 Floor Hamilton, Russell Calm Fears Over F1 Floor
