F1 News: Mercedes 'working hard' to address major weakness ahead of Australian GP

Hamilton during the race in Jeddah — Photo: © IMAGO

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Mercedes 'working hard' to address major weakness ahead of Australian GP

Things haven't started particularly well for Mercedes in 2024

Cal Gaunt

Wednesday 20 March 2024 09:12

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin says the team are 'working hard' to correct an issue that has hampered the team's performance in the opening two races of 2024.

Watching on in Jeddah last time out, it became evident that not only were Mercedes' competitors outperforming them in high-speed corners, but even the Alpine car showcased superior performance, pinpointing a crucial area for the Silver Arrows to enhance if they aim to secure victories.

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Shovlin, one of the Mercedes personnel tasked with tackling this challenge, has now shed light on the reasons behind the W15's cornering struggles.

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“It’s a few things,” he said. “One of them was the balance wasn’t great. So those very fast corners, the walls aren’t particularly far away.

"So the ones where the driver wants a lot of confidence, and quite often we were snapping to oversteer if they really leant on the tyres. And that… you can easily imagine how unsettling that is for the drivers.

“Now, that was a factor in qualifying and the race. In qualifying we were also suffering a bit with the bouncing. Now that was less of a problem in the race.

"There’s more fuel on the car. You’re going a bit slower. And that seemed to calm down and wasn’t such an issue. And then the big one is we don’t really have enough grip there.”

Andrew Shovlin says Mercedes are 'working hard' to correct a cornering issue with the W15

Despite the comparatively slower nature of the Melbourne circuit in contrast to Jeddah, Shovlin said that Mercedes remains dedicated to addressing this weakness ahead of the upcoming Australian Grand Prix.

He particularly highlighted that Albert Park features a similar configuration of corners to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, underlining the speedy nature in which the team needs to enhance their performance in this area.

Red Bull Mercedes Alpine silver arrows Andrew Shovlin