Mercedes has lost race performance since Spa
Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff admits that the W15 has lost “quite a chunk” of performance since its strong run of form prior to the summer break.
The Brackley team won three of the four races held before the break, culminating in a one-two on the road at Spa, although original winner George Russell was disqualified and Lewis Hamilton inherited the victory.
However race form has dipped again and after finishing seventh and eighth in the Dutch GP the team logged fifth and seventh at Monza.
“It was better than Zandvoort,” said Wolff when asked by this writer about the Monza race. “But we are quite a chunk of from pre-summer performances. I think we scored a podium in five races or six races and three victories, two on merit.
“And we don’t seem to be playing there at the moment, in the front. And when you’re on the back foot pace-wise, then obviously you’re in a bit of a no-man’s land in terms of strategy. So it’s good that we have a little bit of time to analyse that.”
Wolff admitted that tyre management in races, something that worked so well for Russell at Spa, is the key weakness at the moment.
“I think we’re able to extract a single lap, which is in principle, good news,” he said. “But then the balance isn’t, in a way, good enough to keep the tyres happy for the race.
“That’s been a little bit the topic since Zandvoort, it’s been more on the edge, more difficult to find the right balance.
Regarding Monza he added: “We suffered from front left graining, I think it came at various times, with George the graining started a bit earlier in stint one, and then we were very defensive in our lap times in the second stint in order to maybe extract more tyre performance, maybe to make a one-stop last, but then the graining came up.
“But it was so easy to get it wrong. As a driver it was very difficult to judge., can you make it to the end or not? Because you see the front is opened up, or the front has started to grain.”
Adam Cooper F1 