As has happened on other occasions, the Mercedes weekend has so far been a mix of highs and lows, with a car that struggles to maintain consistency throughout the event. However, behind the fifth and sixth place finishes achieved by George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, there is much more than what the classification reveals, highlighting two completely contrasting feelings.
After Friday’s incident that forced the team to replace the chassis overnight, using their second seasonal exception to work beyond curfew hours, George Russell approached interviews with a smile, aware that the weekend could have taken a much more complicated turn.
Unlike his teammate, the young Brit did not have the latest technical updates on his car, as the updated kit was damaged in last week’s incident in Austin. This factor fuels Russell’s enthusiasm, especially considering that the current floor on his car is still the one that debuted in Miami, since the version used in Spa was abandoned.
However, beyond the smile he showed during interviews, there is another issue: the inconsistency of performance. “Regarding FP1, we are still trying to understand why it went so well. Today was really, really good. Being just a tenth off third place on a track where we raced with the Miami floor 14 races ago… I don’t think we could have done much more,” Russell explained at the end of the day.
During the weekend, temperatures fluctuated significantly due to the unique conditions in Mexico City. As soon as the sun comes out, the track heats up considerably, easily exceeding 40°C, regardless of the ambient temperature. However, when clouds cover the track, the asphalt can cool down quickly by as much as 10°C. This aspect was observed throughout the weekend, including during qualifying.
On Friday, stability issues with the rear emerged, and the step taken in FP3 seemed to have improved the car’s balance, as confirmed by Hamilton: “In FP3, we definitely made a good step forward, at least in terms of balance, but we were still six tenths off. FP3 went well; it seemed we were on the right track.”
However, during those minutes, Mercedes also wanted to test another solution, installing a higher downforce wing that, according to Lewis Hamilton, did not yield the expected results. In fact, he felt it hindered their performance: “From FP3, we only put on the higher downforce wing, deciding to give it a try. There’s not much we can do in terms of setup changes to improve the car. The performance is what it is right now. Then we got to qualifying and I didn’t have rear support.” In FP3, both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton had tried the lower downforce configuration before switching to the one that offers more downforce.
“It’s as if the situation flipped. It’s very strange. But it will be interesting, not just for the data, because obviously I’m on the updated car. It should be faster. But I don’t think it is. We also put on the higher downforce wing to have more downforce, but our car just went slower.” It’s no coincidence that, as Hamilton mentioned, a significant portion of the gap he accumulated during his final lap came from the last sector, where good rear support is essential. Conversely, George Russell proved to be quite competitive in that section, even against Carlos Sainz.
Indeed, Mercedes fitted a higher downforce wing on both cars to help protect the rear tires, as the W15 tends to suffer significant tire degradation in very high temperatures. Additionally, the track in Mexico is generally quite dirty, and the tires tend to slip, experiencing sliding; while graining was not observed on Friday, it’s clear that Mercedes aimed to play primarily for the race, sacrificing the good top speeds seen with the lower downforce wing.
The engineers hope that the modifications made on Saturday will prove effective during the race, rather than in qualifying: the Grand Prix is unlikely to hinge solely on pure degradation, as the references and data from Friday showed contained degradation across all three compounds, so even the soft tire is considered for a short stint, but rather on the teams’ ability to keep the tires within the optimal operating window while avoiding harmful slipping. In Mercedes, as admitted by Andrew Shovlin, they recognize that it will be difficult to make progress during the race given the speed shown by the other three top teams, but the hope is that Saturday’s choice may yield some benefits, providing a few more opportunities.
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