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Lewis Hamilton suspects an error with the set-up of Mercedes’ lately launched new ground design was behind their sharp downturn in efficiency on the Brazilian Grand Prix.
However workforce principal Toto Wolff believes that’s solely a part of the reason for a dismal weekend by which Hamilton completed a lowly eighth within the grand prix itself.
Mercedes launched their new ground two weeks earlier at the US Grand Prix. The workforce carried out properly at Circuit of the Americas and Hamilton completed two seconds behind race winner Max Verstappen.
Nevertheless his automotive failed a post-race inspection of its plank and was disqualified from the grand prix. Mercedes admitted they hadn’t received their set-up proper throughout the dash race weekend’s single hour-long follow session. Per week later in Mexico, the place they’d the advantage of three follow classes, Hamilton completed second once more.
However after their poor efficiency in Brazil, one other dash occasion, Hamilton suspected they could have gotten it mistaken once more with their ground.
“My guess is that the ground just isn’t working and the ground’s not settling down in order that simply pushed us to go to a better wing [angle at the rear],” he stated. “I really feel we’re simply massively draggy on the straights and we’re dropping a lot time on the straights, there’s nothing I can do about it.
“Then we’re simply sliding by way of the corners. So now we have to look into why that’s the case on this tough circuit.”
He believes the W14’s set-up explains why he ended up over a minute behind Verstappen at Interlagos. “I’m certain there’s something inside the set-up that we’d have been in a position to have achieved a bit higher. However whether or not or not that meant we have been additional up, I can’t say.”
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Wolff acknowledged the workforce made some compromises with the way it ran its ground, however believes there have been different elements at work.
“We ran the automotive means too excessive and it’s one thing that you realize that you simply carry that on [from first practice],” he stated. “However that wasn’t the principle purpose for an absolute off weekend by way of efficiency.
“There’s one thing basically mistaken mechanically. Or, quite, it’s not a rear wing and it’s not the automotive being barely, barely too excessive – as a result of we’re speaking a millimetre, two, that’s efficiency but it surely’s not the reason for a complete off [weekend].”
He stated the change within the automotive’s efficiency between consecutive race weekends was “baffling”.
“From a extremely fast automotive, finest balanced or actually well-balanced. Our drivers joyful to a nightmare. How’s that even attainable?
“What’s it that’s not proper? I wouldn’t be shocked that we analyse the vehicles within the subsequent few days and we discover out that there was a mechanical problem in the best way we set them up though I don’t know what that might have been.”
Mercedes have been to this point off the tempo in Brazil they even thought-about beginning their vehicles from the pit lane with a view to alter their set-ups. However Wolff stated they weren’t certain they might enhance their automotive’s efficiency sufficient to justify giving up their grid positions for the grand prix.
“We didn’t know basically the place we’d have modified it as a result of there’s a a lot larger problem,” he stated. “We considered that however when eager about maximising factors, it was most likely proper to begin like this.”
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2023 Brazilian Grand Prix
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