A Mercedes his team was already struggling with the problem at the season opener in Bahrain and was trying to find a solution to the problems during free practice in Jeddah on Friday – not much success yet. Lewis Hamilton in the end, they closed the opening day in 5th and George Russell in 6th, but they said there is still a lot of work to be done.
“It was okay today, we still have a lot of similar problems as in the last race, but we’re working on them,” the seven-time world champion said. “It’s definitely a little harder to do here because of the fast-paced curves, but the grip is very good on the track and we just have to find some speed in the straights.”
“We’ll stick our heads together tonight, chewing through the data we’ve collected so we can expect the best possible situation on Saturday’s timer.”
George Russel, who was herding the other Mercedes, talked about how important it would be take advantage of the opportunities in Jeddah.
“It’s great to get back on the track in Jeddah, it’s incredibly fast and inspiring for the riders, but we’re having the same problems as we did last weekend in Bahrain,” the British pilot said. “We know there’s a lot more we need to do to get closer to Red Bull and Ferrari.”
“We’re going to fight to maximize our chances of scoring this weekend and we’ll give it our all on Saturday’s time trial. Anything can happen here, so it’s important to be within range to get as many points as possible. ”
Mercedes chief engineer Andrew Shovlin revealed they were trying to find a solution to the problem of ‘dolphins’ during free practice on Friday, but there is no definitive cure for the problems so far.
“We did a few attempts to understand the car’s bounce on this track – some of which made the situation worse and there were some that helped. But we don’t have a solution to the problem yet, ”the expert acknowledged.
“We can reduce it a bit to Saturday as it affects the riders in a few turns and it takes time. Compared to Bahrain, the balance of the car is better here and we are also pleased with the degradation of the tires. We need to work a little more on our one-lap pace, but there will be a third free practice for that. ”
“Overall we had a good day, but no doubt we still have some work to do before we can cause a problem for Red Bull and Ferrari.”
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