Why Mercedes has “eyes on” another victory amid Qatar perfect storm

Mercedes has admitted {that a} host of things in its favour on the Qatar Grand Prix might assist it ship one other System 1 victory.

Whereas the workforce remains to be struggling to totally perceive simply why it was in a category of its personal in Las Vegas final weekend, as George Russell led Lewis Hamilton dwelling for a 1-2 end, it feels this weekend’s race at Losail offers it logical causes to really feel bullish.

The shortage of low-speed traction zones, the place Mercedes has struggled, allied to an absence of the kind of gradual corners the place the drivers have battled understeer and have to rotate the automotive with sliding, ought to assist alleviate a number of the key weaknesses with tyre overheating on the W15 automotive.

Moreover, the absence of bumps on asphalt that was resurfaced forward of final yr’s race, plus a closed, easy observe floor that helps with not abusing tyres a lot, are different parts in its favour.

One thing else that might show important is also that temperatures are a lot cooler than final yr, with the Mercedes identified to be extra aggressive when it isn’t so sizzling.

Talking earlier than observe motion obtained beneath approach, Russell mentioned that even earlier than the squad started travelling to the ultimate triple-header of the season, it at all times felt Qatar provided it the very best probability of the final three races.

“Coming into the journey, this was the one we had our eyes on, to be sincere,” he defined.

Qatar observe

Photograph by: Uncredited

“That was to the purpose that I needed to place an older engine in for Vegas, to have the freshest one doable for this weekend.

“There’s the smoothness of the tarmac, the coldness, because it’s no secret once we get the automotive in that proper window it flies.”

Russell feels that one of many classes popping out of Las Vegas is that the Mercedes is aggressive solely in a slim working window – which is one thing the workforce must work on for subsequent yr.

“Once we go to different circuits, when it is actually bumpy, we have to raise the automotive up, and obtained to make it actually, actually smooth,” he mentioned. “That is not how our automotive operates. It isn’t how all of those vehicles function – however we clearly lose much more than our rivals in these situations.

“We simply have to work on making a broader downforce window subsequent yr, as a result of clearly it is approach too peaky now. And that is perhaps additionally why we have made so many errors as properly this season, since you simply fall off that cliff.”

Mercedes’ major rival in Las Vegas was Ferrari, which was fast till the purpose it hit a tyre graining section that in the end derailed its race.

However after a season the place the hopes of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have suffered a bit due to high-speed bouncing, the quick nature of the Losail circuit might make this fairly a tough weekend for them once more.

Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari

Photograph by: Ferrari

Sainz particularly felt that out of the ultimate three races of the yr, this was going to be essentially the most troublesome one.

“On paper [this is] the most important problem we’re going to face since we’ve launched these upgrades to the automotive which have made us carry out higher,” he mentioned.

“In the event you take a look at Mexico sector two, Austin sector one, Vegas sector one, every time there have been high-speed corners in a sector we haven’t been within the prime 4 vehicles. We’ve by no means been quick.

“So that you be a part of the truth that this observe is easy, chilly, and it’s solely a majority of these corners, then on paper we must always wrestle.

“However on the similar time, one factor is to wrestle on efficiency, one other factor is the quantity of factors you’re taking from the weekend. We have to maximise that.

“It might nonetheless be a tricky weekend when it comes to efficiency but it surely may very well be weekend when it comes to factors, so I’m hopeful we will execute weekend and maximise all the pieces.”