Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team Principal Toto Wolff feels that the Australian Grand Prix marked a significant step forward for the team, having shown great potential to keep up with the front-runners during qualifying and the race– ultimately securing second place with a great drive from Lewis Hamilton.
“We had strong pace today and it was really close with the Aston Martins and the Ferraris. That is good news for us, and I think we have made a step forward this weekend, both on one-lap and race pace.”
Their efforts at Albert Park Circuit will also offer the team valuable knowledge regarding the direction they will take when it comes to development, Wolff adds.
“We maximised what we have, and we need to now comb through the data and continue to learn about the car. This will help bring the upgrade packages and that will be the key in challenging the leaders more often.”
On the other side of the garage, Wolff said that George Russell lost a great opportunity to compete for the victory due to his power unit failure– He had started from the front row and took the lead off of Max Verstappen soon after the lights went out.
Wolff said that his first pit stop during the initial safety car was the right choice at the time, though the race ended up being stopped altogether, putting him at a disadvantage. Confidence in Russell’s chances remained high up until lap seventeen, when he stopped on the side of the track with flames billowing from his exhaust.
“It was unfortunate with George; he had a great stop from the lead and changed onto the hard tyre. It was absolutely the right call, and he would have been very much at the front. With the red flag his race was not so good anymore. He still could have made it to the front though, so he was unfortunate to have a Power Unit failure.”
“It was a day of mixed fortunes for the team.” – Andrew Shovlin
Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin was pleased to see Hamilton take the podium this weekend with a strong performance under such hectic conditions, however laments the issue that cost Russell his entire race.
“It’s great to get the first podium of the year with Lewis, but it was a day of mixed fortunes for the team. Lewis drove a difficult race well and had to find a fine balance between tyre management and defending.
Shovlin concurred that Russell’s disadvantageous strategy and race-ending reliability issue marked the end of what was an otherwise stellar performance through the weekend.
“George had put together a strong weekend and was unfortunate that the Safety Car became a red flag. Things then got worse with the Power Unit issue.”
Overall, Shovlin believes that the car’s setup this weekend played a role in the strong pace they showed– something the team will be looking into as they continue into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and beyond.
“The pace of the car has been better than at the first two races; we’ve made some changes to the setup for the circuit but hopefully we can take some of that learning into the upcoming races.”
Credit: Steve Etherington / Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team