Coming out of last weekend’s Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, the theme for Mercedes was “progress.” The team brought in the second half of the W15 upgrade that began at the Miami Grand Prix, and the team highlighted their progress after the race by helping Lewis Hamilton finish sixth and George Russell seventh, earning bonus points for fastest lap.
That progress remains a theme heading into this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
“Yeah, the car is definitely more balanced through the lap,” Russell said on Thursday. FIA press conference“At the beginning of the year I struggled with balancing the height in slow corners, but I think I’ve made progress.”
Russell acknowledged that teams such as McLaren and Ferrari had also made progress, but stressed that Mercedes had closed the gap on Red Bull.
“If you look at the gap to Red Bull and the gap to the rest of the midfield we are making progress, but I think it’s fair to say Ferrari and McLaren are also progressing at the same pace,” Russell added. “So we need to continue to work to bring upgrades to the car and the whole team is working flat out now to bring those upgrades as quickly as possible.”
The Mercedes driver also said the team’s struggle to find the right balance for the W15 between the high-speed and low-speed corners that prevail at the Monaco circuit may finally be resolved.
This is partly due to the number of slow corners that drivers attack on the streets of Monte Carlo.
“I think we’ve known all season that we’ve been struggling with the balance between fast and slow,” Russell said. “We’re either going to be pretty competitive or we’re going to be pretty competitive. [at] At low speed you struggle and at high speed you struggle, or vice versa. So hopefully, with the cornering speed being relatively consistent at this circuit, we can be a bit more competitive.”
Still, Monaco always has a few tricks up its sleeve for the grid.
“I think Monaco will be very difficult, as everyone is saying, there will be a lot of confusion throughout the weekend and you will need to find the sweet spot,” Russell explained.
“The tracks are getting better and better, and it’s getting faster and faster. In qualifying we’re up to three seconds faster than normal. [in practice]So even if Friday goes well, you need to be ready to adapt for Saturday.
“And we [that] I was at an engineering conference today and it was bright blue skies and then I stepped outside and it was pouring rain, which made it even more inspiring.”
Mercedes to compete in the Monaco Grand Prix 4th in the Constructors’ Championship The Silver Arrows have 79 points, 35 ahead of fifth-placed Aston Martin, but they are 75 points behind third-placed McLaren, whose 154 points this year are almost double Mercedes’.
It will take a big week of success to close that gap.
