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Mercedes are aiming to repeat the restoration feat they achieved final yr by successful a race earlier than the top of the season.
The staff went into 2023 with excessive hopes after turning their uncompetitive W13 right into a race-winner by the top of the 2022 season. George Russell scored the staff’s solely victory within the penultimate spherical of the championship in Brazil.
Nonetheless Mercedes slipped again once more at the beginning of 2023 and selected a brand new growth path for its W14 chassis. A serious improve was launched on the Monaco Grand Prix, and since then the staff’s efficiency has improved.
“It’s very nice to be now racing no less than for podiums, with the ability to present what we’re able to doing,” mentioned Mercedes’ chief technical officer Mike Elliott in a video launched by the staff.
“Hopefully we are able to flip that into extra upgrades, extra efficiency over the races to return and hopefully begin combating for some victories by the top of the season.”
Elliott expects the W14 might be extra at dwelling on the two upcoming tracks on the calendar: The Purple Bull Ring, which holds subsequent week’s Austrian Grand Prix and dash race, and Silverstone, the place the British Grand Prix will happen per week later.
“I believe the place we’ve seen the automobile struggling is extra the low-speed corners. So if we begin taking a look at circuits that’ve bought extra medium and high-speed content material, I believe we’ll do higher there.
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“So Silverstone can be a superb instance of that. Austria shouldn’t be too dangerous for us both, so let’s hope we go properly in each of these.”
Lewis Hamilton accomplished the primary lap of final week’s Canadian Grand Prix in second place however fell to 3rd by the end. He pitted throughout the Security Automobile interval and once more later within the race, and Elliott mentioned it’s unlikely the staff would have executed any higher had they used a special technique.
“A one-stop technique was most likely the best technique for the circuit, however solely in a traditional race,” he mentioned. “Because it was, we had a reasonably early Security Automobile with George’s incident.
“That meant the 2 methods of doing a one-stop would have been to pit below the Security Automobile after which run a really lengthy stint on the hards, and I believe we’d have seen far an excessive amount of degradation for that and we might have been weak to vehicles from behind later within the race.
“The opposite different can be to do what Ferrari did, which is to remain out below the Security Automobile after which pit later within the race, so operating an extended first. For Ferrari that labored out as a result of they had been caught in a DRS prepare with slower vehicles in entrance of them and so they had been in a position to soar them after which use their inherent tempo within the race.
“For us, if we’d have stayed out, I believe we’d have simply been weak to the vehicles round us and we wouldn’t have ended up in a greater place general.”
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2023 F1 season
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