After failing to maximise the potential of their W13 during last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team are looking to rebound this weekend in the first Japanese Grand Prix since 2019.
Lewis Hamilton could only finish ninth last weekend at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in a race that included a trip into the barriers, while George Russell lost out heavily by pitting early for dry tyres, with the time lost, as well as contact with Mick Schumacher that saw him suffer a puncture, leaving him at the back of the field.
Toto Wolff, the Team Principal at Mercedes, says there were still some positives to take away from Singapore, but they will be looking into ways to do things differently in the future to avoid a repeat of their problems.
“It was a very difficult Sunday for us in Singapore,” admitted Wolff. “There were still some positives to take because we saw glimpses of the car’s pace and potential. But we couldn’t convert that into points in the race itself, although the car showed it was competitive in free air.
“We’ve had plenty to debrief and analyse over the past few days and many learnings to take forward. Thankfully we can move quickly onto the next race and a new challenge for us to tackle.”
Wolff says the target for Mercedes this weekend at the Suzuka International Racing Course is to get back to the kind of form they had shown in the races leading up to Singapore, and although Scuderia Ferrari edged away from them in the battle for second place in the Constructors’ Championship last weekend, there is a lot of points still on the table.
“Our target is to rebuild the momentum we had before Singapore and capitalise on the positive underlying performance of the car,” he said. “There are still five opportunities to score good points and end the year strongly.
“Suzuka will give our package some challenges, and it will be hard to repeat the qualifying performance we saw in Singapore – but I hope that will be balanced out with a stronger Sunday afternoon.
“F1 hasn’t been to Japan since 2019 and the team is really looking forward to being back. It’s such a special track; one of the most challenging for both man and machine. And we’ve missed all the brilliant Japanese fans, too.”