Mercedes F1 News: Martin Brundle tackles big mystery after a wild weekend

Mercedes

Martin Brundle tackles Mercedes mystery after a wild weekend

Sky Sports pundit tries to solve the big Silver Arrows question

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Thursday 23 June 2022 12:44 Updated: 14:41

How do you solve a problem like Mercedes? Even former F1 driver turned Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle is struggling to find the answer.

The confusion around what the Silver Arrows might eventually achieve this season ramped up again across the Canadian Grand Prix weekend as Lewis Hamilton grabbed his first podium since the season-opening race in Bahrain.

Less than 48 hours earlier, Hamilton had been in the depths of despair as he described the W13 as the "worst ever" following Friday practice in Montreal.

Confusing Mercedes - Brundle

Brundle, writing in his column for Sky Sports, claims the entire sport is perplexed by the rollercoaster ride Mercedes is experiencing so far this season.

"The Mercedes team are so confusing for everyone at the moment, including themselves," he said.

"On Friday, Lewis declared the car was undriveable, which is indeed exactly how it looked, and in a Sky F1 interview he strongly intimated that it was now about making the best of a bad job for the rest of the long season.

"Team boss Toto Wolff said similar things to me in an interview having described the car as a 's***box' just a week earlier."

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Fast forward a couple of days to the race proper at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and it was a very different story, with Mercedes displaying excellent race pace which led to third for Hamilton and fourth for team-mate George Russell.

Hope for the future - Brundle

Brundle believes those results may have been slightly helped by external forces, but he does see hope for the future.

"In the race both Mercs were flying along almost on the leading pace," added Brundle.

"To be realistic, if Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez had had normal qualifying and race performances, and had we not had two virtual and then one actual safety car, it would likely have been a solid fifth and sixth for the Merc boys.

"However, once again there does appear to be a good car under that shrink-wrapped bodywork, and they fancy their chances at Silverstone which is next up."

Did George Russell make right call?

The other major Mercedes talking point of the weekend was George Russell's decision to switch to slicks during a wet qualifying session on Saturday.

That divided opinion, with team principal Toto Wolff loving the "ballsy call", but former world champion Jacques Villeneuve slating the move.

Brundle gave a measured view, writing: "George Russell took a very bold gamble on slicks at the end of the final wet but drying qualifying session, which I suspect he wouldn't do again.

"I admire his confidence but two or three parts of the track were still 10 minutes away from being ready."