George Russell and Lewis Hamilton have “gut” feelings on the Mercedes issue.
Prior to the summer break, Mercedes won races in Silverstone, Austria, and Belgium; but, since then, they haven’t maintained the same speed due to modifications to their vehicles.
There are “a lot of question marks” regarding Mercedes’ lack of speed during the summer break, Lewis Hamilton acknowledged.
George Russell’s triumph in Austria and two more victories by Hamilton at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps marked the Silver Arrows’ successful finale to the first half of the season. At the latter event, a new floor was unveiled, and they conducted a very fast Grand Prix.
Since the summer break, though, they have found it difficult to duplicate that performance. In an attempt to find their optimal speed again, the crew is uncertain about whether to stick with their “upgrade” or go back to the earlier floor.
Hamilton expressed his opinion on the matter and made it plain that he thought the floor modifications were what really made a difference. “There are a lot of question marks,” he stated. We’re attempting to comprehend it. There are several possible reasons for this: the update or track-dependent issues might be to blame.
I have a gut feeling that this is the update. It’s challenging to distinguish between the two. This next weekend, we’ll attempt to undo part of it and see if we can identify it. Analysis of it is now underway, since it provides guidance to the team for both this year’s and next year’s car development.
“Russell, the seven-time Formula One champion’s teammate, is likewise dubious about the upgraded Mercedes floor. “It wasn’t a significant performance improvement—sometimes you have to look at things objectively,” he clarified.”We performed poorly and brought a new floor. That was the primary alteration. We were aware that the update would only be a little step forward on the path we had been taking, not something that would blow the world apart.
