Mercedes scares. The star team premiered in Monaco a great package of improvements that amended his concept ‘zero pontoons‘ and opted for a much more traditional design, following the style of Red Bull and Aston Martin. Even though they did not do well in the chaos of the Principality, the Spanish Grand Prix confirmed that the German team has taken a huge step forward.
lewis hamilton and George Russell managed for the first time in the season to put the two Mercedes on the podium in Montmelómanaging to overcome in the race with both cars a Carlos Sainz who came second and both Aston Martinwho did not have a good race pace.
The fact that Mercedes’ performance has increased at a circuit like Barcelona generates special enthusiasm in the team. The engineering director, Andrew Sholvin, assures that what has been seen on the Catalan track is representative for the rest of the season.
“The fact is that the update package works very well tracks like the one in Spain, with a great demand of load in high speed. We have been better on the fast circuits and those that suffer from the front, but we have achieved a good balance and a good race rhythm“Sholvin said in statements broadcast through the social networks of the Mercedes team.
despite what the performance improvement of the W14 was significantMercedes assures that what happened in Barcelona was only the beginning of a great transformation with which they hope to fight for victories in the second half of the season.
However, the British engineer believes that standing up to Red Bull at the Canadian Grand Prix is going to be practically impossible: “Now, where we’re going next week, to Canada, it’s a different track. There are more downhill corners speed, quite a bit of full throttle in a straight line, and we expect a bigger challenge. We do not plan to be hot on the heels of Red Bullwe are aware that in Canada will be a bigger challenge than Sunday in Barcelona“.
They wait for Alpine in the fight
Mercedes anticipates tough battle with Aston Martin and Ferrari in Montreal, which it also expects to join Alpine: “We are thinking that sit will be more in line with the first races in which we were in the group with Ferrari, Aston Martin and, now, Alpine, which seems to have joined“.
He Circuit Gilles Villeneuve It is made up mainly of long straights and chicanes, so it is very demanding in braking and traction, which are the strengths of the AMR23, so Aston Martin, a priori, will play with good cards that game against Mercedes and Ferrari.
