In Suzuka, Mercedes was unable to fully express the race pace it had. A situation influenced by qualifying, which largely determined the finishing positions. In any case, there is satisfaction in Brackley with the quality of the W16, which showed its potential in almost all conditions and on various tracks, confirming the great work done over the winter. Another positive note, heading toward Bahrain, is the progress of Kimi Antonelli during the weekend. Mercedes technical director James Allison provides an overview of the Suzuka weekend, also looking ahead to Sakhir.
Allison on qualifying in Suzuka: “It was crucial to find a compromise between sectors on a partially resurfaced track”
“I feel positive vibes within the team. However, we’re not yet where we want to be: McLaren are faster, while Red Bull is similar to us. In any case, we have almost three times the points we had last season after three races. That’s definitely a step forward,” Allison commented. In an attempt to get closer to pole position, George Russell experimented with every possible option in Q3 to try and secure at least a front row. In fact, in Suzuka, it is crucial to balance tyre temperatures throughout the lap, partially “choosing” which part of the track to sacrifice: “This weekend, they resurfaced the first sector, which showed significant improvements in lap times. The challenge with new tarmac, being smooth, is that it’s harder to heat the tyres to reach optimal grip. Then, when we reached the final sector, where the surface is rough, the tyres would overheat a lot. So the driver has to find the right compromise not to overheat the final stretch while still being competitive in the first.” The former Ferrari engineer explained the cause of George Russell’s error in his final attempt, highlighting the importance of the out lap: “For his final attempt, we opted for a more cautious start to the lap. However, George still decided to push like in the previous attempt, but the tyres weren’t ready for that speed, so we lost time in Turn 2. In any case, it wasn’t the best strategy, because if you look at Verstappen, who aggressively warmed up his tyres in the final sector of the out lap, he was able to attack right from the first corners.”
Allison on the race: “Russell’s early stop was a consequence of the opening laps”
As a result, Russell started from the third row, in fifth position, behind even Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. The drivers ahead of the former Williams driver were on the same medium tyre strategy, which made an attacking race even more difficult, also considering the limited overtaking opportunities. Russell then triggered the ‘pit stop waltz’, being the first among the front group to stop. The early stop, as Allison explains, was a consequence of the opening laps, in which Russell pushed to try and unsettle the Monegasque’s Ferrari: “It was a result of what happened in the first few laps: George was quite fast and saw Charles Leclerc ahead sliding and making some mistakes. Even though he knew overtaking would be tough, he thought he could pressure the Ferrari, since it was on the limit, to induce an error.” A strategy that was sound in principle, but ultimately backfired: “It was a good idea, but if you don’t follow it through, you pay the price for a very close chase, thus overheating your tyres. In the final laps on the mediums, we were in fact losing ground to the cars ahead, so we opted for the early stop.”
Allison: “Suzuka confirmed Antonelli’s growth”
The Japanese weekend was one to remember for Kimi Antonelli. The Bologna-born driver managed to bounce back after far from optimal free practice sessions. Kimi was “lost” — as he himself admitted — on the single lap after FP3, and came into qualifying essentially blind. However, the young Italian managed to take sixth position after a strong final attempt, just two tenths behind his teammate. In the race, he was the top team driver to extend the stint on mediums the longest, confirming his consistency in long runs and excellent tyre management. Antonelli was then able to switch to hard tyres several laps later, benefiting from the tyre wear offset compared to others in the final laps, gaining several tenths per lap on his teammate and closing a gap of no less than 9 seconds. During those laps, Kimi also set the fastest lap — the race lap record. A record which, according to Allison, is less important than the progress shown by the young driver, the real starting point for Bahrain: “Lap records are nice, but he knows these things are a consequence of having extended the first stint and thus having fresher tyres than others. What should really excite him is the overall performance on such a technical track, where he qualified just behind his teammate and then, in the race, took another step forward by making his tyres last longer than anyone else in the first stint. In particular, his final laps on the mediums were matching the times of the fastest cars. And then, in the end, getting right on George’s tail shows he was on his level — which, for an 18-year-old, is no small feat. That’s what we and Kimi are taking away from the Japanese weekend.”
Allison on the race result: “It was hard to do better given the few overtakes on this track”
In Brackley, realistically, they didn’t expect to finish on the podium after qualifying with both cars on the third row. The only scenario that could have shaken things up was rain, which didn’t appear during the race. According to Allison, if rain had come, it would have highlighted the team and drivers’ adaptability, masking the car’s performance: “Finishing 5th–6th was the most likely scenario we predicted after qualifying. If the rain had arrived, the cars’ performance would have been less marked, so what would have made the difference would have been the adaptability of the drivers and the team in choosing the right strategy. In that case, it doesn’t depend much on car performance, which in our case, in the dry, is 1–2 tenths slower.” A statement that prompts reflection and may spark debate. In fact, in a 2024 interview, former Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz said rain actually amplifies differences between cars: “Nowadays, all drivers are good in the wet: the differences between cars are even more pronounced, because you spend more time in corners, and it benefits those with more downforce and those who understand better how to play with tyre pressures.”
The Mercedes technical director: “Here’s the difference between the W15 and the W16”
The Brackley team’s technical director then analysed the differences between last year’s car, the W15, and this season’s W16. A car now easier for the drivers to predict and drive, being less sensitive to external factors and easier to set up: “This year we’ve already tested various conditions — wet in Australia, hot and cold races, headwind, tailwind — and we’ve seen that the W16 has always behaved well, which means we can more easily extract its potential and raise the bar with future updates.”
The W15, on the other hand, was extremely dependent on asphalt temperature and wind direction, which led to drastic setup changes from session to session: “The main issue with the W15 was understeer in slow corners, which was the result of a mismatch between front and rear tyre temperatures and other factors. That made it very inconsistent from one session to the next, depending on track temperature and wind direction changes.”
Allison: “Bahrain is a tyre-demanding track”
Looking ahead to the upcoming Bahrain weekend, Allison expects a very demanding Grand Prix in terms of thermal tyre degradation. The Sakhir circuit is known for being rear-limited and significantly overheating the rear tyres, along with high temperatures. The asphalt will also play an important role, being much older than that in Suzuka: “We definitely expect higher degradation for everyone, because the asphalt is very abrasive, so it micro-tears the tyres, and it’s also old, since it hasn’t been resurfaced in a long time, which causes overheating. It will be a weekend of managing both rear and front tyre temperatures. I think McLaren has an advantage in this type of situation as well. However, I believe that against Red Bull and Ferrari, we’ll be fighting for the podium or even better positions, if McLaren makes mistakes.”
Leave a Reply