Toto Wolff reports that Mercedes’ W15 faced a half-second deficit in the high-speed turns of the Jeddah track during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The race didn’t go well for either George Russell or Lewis Hamilton, with Russell managing a slight improvement from seventh to sixth, and Hamilton dropping a position to end up ninth.
Hamilton expressed concern, noting that traditionally, Mercedes’ forte has been its race pace. However, the seven-time World Champion mentioned that they were significantly behind in the high-speed corners.
The 39-year-old speaking to Sky Sports said: ‘The car is relatively good in the low speed and not so bad in the medium, but in the high speed we are miles off.’
‘It was like I was in a different category when I was going through the high speed between the other guys around me.
Wolff quantified this shortfall, stating it amounted to a 0.5-second delay.
“It is clear that we are struggling with the car in the high-speed corners,” he said. “We are competitive elsewhere but in three corners here, we were losing about half a second.
“It was therefore incredibly difficult for the drivers to attack with.
“We tried something different on the strategy but unfortunately, with the low levels of degradation we saw across the field, it didn’t work out for us.”
As Formula 1 heads to Australia for the third round of the championship after a two-week break, Wolff believes that Mercedes has a substantial amount of work to undertake.
“There is so much learning we can take from these first two race weekends. We need to get our heads down to analyse, understand and improve,” he said.
“It’s clear that we’ve got a lot of work to do but these tough days make you better. Everyone is committed to getting the car into a better place and we look forward to coming back stronger in Australia.”
