F1 pundit details GLARING Mercedes issue

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Saudi Arabia, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

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F1 pundit details GLARING Mercedes issue

Sky Sports F1 pundit David Croft gets to the root of Mercedes' issues at the start of the 2024 season

Sheona Mountford

Friday 15 March 2024 09:57

Mercedes have had a lacklustre start to their 2024 season, and a F1 pundit has detailed the reasons why.

The German team dominated the hybrid era, picking up eight constructors and seven driver world titles.

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However, since the new regulations they have slipped behind their rivals, currently below McLaren in the 2024 constructors championship.

Their most recent race win was with George Russell at the Brazilian GP in 2022, and Lewis Hamilton, who leaves for Ferrari in 2025, has not won a race since the 2021 Saudi GP.

Mercedes’ cooling issues

Sky Sports F1 pundit and commentator, David Croft, has explained why Mercedes have struggled at the start of this season.

“I think we would’ve seen a better Mercedes on-track had they not got the cooling setup completely wrong for Bahrain,” he said on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast.

“They went wrong to the extent of about four tenths of a second per lap and they had these big cooling issues.

“George and Lewis were having to lift and coast and by doing that they were cooling their tyres down as well and it was a knock-on effect.

“Mercedes are a better package than we saw in Bahrain and I’m not quite sure – HPP will set the parameters to run the engine and I think there was a miscalculation that wasn’t argued or otherwise by the team at the track setting up the car.

“If that is the case, that’s good because that’s not a long-term problem. It’s not we’ve got a massive issue with the engine, it’s just there was a miscalculation for that race.

“Williams were suffering a little bit as well and maybe McLaren too – it wasn’t just a Mercedes works team specific problem.”

Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Mercedes David Croft