At the end of the first quarter of the season, Mercedes sits second in the Constructors’ Championship behind McLaren—a position that reflects its overall status as the second-strongest team over the first six races. Even Andrea Kimi Antonelli has immediately proven up to the challenge of a far from easy role, making significant progress weekend after weekend. Miami was his best weekend so far, not so much in terms of the final result, but in terms of confidence; his pole on Friday and near-pole on Saturday proved it. In the crucial moments, not everything went perfectly, and luck didn’t side with him—unlike with George Russell, who took advantage of the VSC to make his pit stop and leapfrog Verstappen for the final podium spot. Ahead of the European leg of the season, Mercedes has set its target on improving long-run performance in order to capitalize on the car’s one-lap speed in qualifying.
Allison: “The drivers are confident in qualifying, but in the race the tires overheat more than expected”
After the Miami weekend, Mercedes Technical Director James Allison provided some insight into the differing behavior of the W16 between qualifying and the race. “We’re finding it relatively easy to get the tires in a good place for a single lap, with balanced grip front to rear. That gives the drivers confidence to rely on the car in qualifying.” He explained how the team in Brackley is working on improving race pace. “In the race, the tires are hotter than we’d like, which means the drivers have to back off to manage the temperatures. Obviously, backing off isn’t exactly top of the list of things you want to do when you’re in the car.” This doesn’t discourage Toto Wolff’s crew, who were clearly pleased after Antonelli’s strong qualifying performance in Miami. “You could see the joy on everyone’s faces in the garage,” he said, referring to the Italian’s Sprint Qualifying pole. “It’s a fairly fleeting pleasure, because the moment qualifying ends, you’ve got to focus on the main event—the race,” he added. “We know the challenges are very different. So it’s a great moment. But then you move forward.”
Trouble with the Hard tire in Miami race
Over the long run, the feeling within the Mercedes camp wasn’t quite as positive—partly due to some unlucky events, such as Kimi Antonelli’s pit stops in both races, and partly because of performance issues with the Hard tire. In his second stint, the Bologna-born driver struggled so much on that compound that he was overtaken by Alex Albon’s Williams for fifth place.
“The hard tire was good for durability, but it was the slower of the two race compounds. It was difficult to judge how hard to push. If you push too hard, it overheats and drops off earlier than you’d like. If you don’t push hard enough, you’re not putting it in its best grip window. It wasn’t easy to find the middle ground.” On Russell’s side of the garage, the team opted for the reverse strategy, starting on the Hard tire. This choice was driven by the risk of rain during the race. “Hard tires give you a longer window to wait for rain to arrive without hurting your overall race strategy too much,” Allison explained. “But if it’s not a wet race or there’s no rain risk, that strategy isn’t really optimal. For Kimi, who was a bit further up the grid, we went with the more conventional route.” Extending the stint eventually paid off thanks to the Virtual Safety Car, which came out before his stop and helped him jump Max Verstappen and claim third place.
European season begins: “With the updates, we aim to improve tire management in the race”
As the European portion of the championship begins, the season enters its hottest phase—not just in terms of temperatures, but also in terms of championship significance. Allison spoke about the development process that will affect the W16 in the upcoming races. “We’ve made updates, even if they’re not huge, they’re coming in a steady stream. Some more noticeable ones will arrive in the next handful of races. With a bit of luck, they’ll improve our fortunes,” said the Mercedes Technical Director. “It’s pretty hard to bring updates when the races are coming so fast, but we’re hopeful that the next two or three events can start to shift things a bit. We’ll also keep working on tire temperatures during the race.” That last point remains the main focus for the Mercedes engineers, with the goal of translating qualifying results into Sunday performance. “The main thing we’ll be concentrating on is trying to control race pace and making sure we deliver on the promise of Saturday. Most of that will involve managing tire temperatures and ensuring the car can show its true pace.”
Leave a Reply