Mercedes’ recent performance breakthrough left the Formula One team wondering how they had been so “foolish” to not understand the car’s problems sooner, according to technical director James Allison. George Russell took pole position in Canada, round nine of 24, on June 8 and finished third for the once-dominant team’s first podium of the campaign.
Allison said on Formula One’s Beyond the Grid podcast that Mercedes was back up to speed and hoped to be competitive in the upcoming races. “What has plagued us since the beginning of the year, the most important thing, was that you could have the car good in a slow corner, do quite decent in a fast corner, but you couldn’t do well in both. at the same time,” he stated.
“What has changed in the last two or three races is that we have modified the car in such a way that it really has a reasonable balance from high to low speed and a reasonable balance in the corners. “The Eureka moments are those where you joyfully understand something that I guess no one has understood before and you have advanced knowledge in the process,” he added when asked about the decisive moment.
“That’s a wonderful thing, it’s more of an ‘Oh God, how could we have been so stupid’ moment, where you see the way forward and you should have seen it sooner.” Allison said Mercedes had been distracted by “secondary issues”, looking at downforce and working on mechanical areas that improved the car but did not fix the fundamental aerodynamic problem, with a new front wing a key element.
Mercedes is fourth in the constructors’ championship ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, but is 177 points behind leader and reigning champion Red Bull. Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton’s team last won a race in 2022. The 2023 season was the first without a victory since 2011.
“I think we can definitely get the car this season to be properly competitive and not afraid of the tracks,” Allison said. “Although I am quite sure that we will put in a good performance in the upcoming future races, I would be surprised if we took pole in the next one, for example. But I am absolutely sure that we can be as fast as anyone in the next period.”
Red Bull has won six of nine races so far in 2024, Ferrari taking two and McLaren one.
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