Mercedes has promising theory for future F1 success after "series of tests"

Valterri Bottas on the Azerbaijan circuit — Photo: © LAT Images

Mercedes

Mercedes has promising theory for future F1 success after "series of tests"

Mercedes aiming to get back on track after a poor two-race run

Ewan Gale

Tuesday 15 June 2021 08:00

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Mercedes is hoping a "series of tests" across the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend will stand the team in good stead for the remainder of the F1 season.

The team left Baku pointless after Valtteri Bottas struggled throughout the event whilst Lewis Hamilton saw a potential win dissipate with a lock-up at the restart for a two-lap sprint to the flag.

The deficiencies of the W12 were a continuation of the street circuit narrative given its performance in Monaco two weeks previously, resulting in a 55-point swing in favour of rivals Red Bull who scored 62 points compared to Mercedes' seven.

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Mercedes technology director Mike Elliott, however, believes there are positives to be taken into the next leg of the campaign in France that sparks a triple-header as two races in Austria follow.

“We went into the weekend knowing we were going to have some issues but probably not quite expecting to be where we were come FP2 on Friday," said Elliott.

"What we put in place was a series of tests to try and get more understanding and actually out of that came a couple of theories, one that is really promising.

"Unfortunately, the test that we did, didn’t happen until FP3 and it was after we had done the long runs, so while we found good pace for qualifying, we probably didn’t get the best set-up around that for the race weekend and the actual race itself."

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Mercedes will be given the chance to bounce back with the upcoming races in France and Austria where circuit conditions should suit the team more than the temporary street layouts of the previous two rounds.

On discovering the best overall set-up for qualifying and the race after Baku's issues, Elliott insisted: "This is something we need to look at, something we need to work out, how we can build the set-up around the changes we’ve made and then carry that forward into future race weekends where we have similar issues.

"The other thing to bear in mind is both Baku and Monaco are probably outliers and actually we’d hope not to have some of the issues we’ve had in the next couple of races. Fingers crossed we will be in a better position.”