Before the upcoming season, Mercedes held uplifted confidence in the technical design of their new car, with the F1 team drivers expressing optimism about their performance in the pre-testing session held in Bahrain.
However, the final outcome in the main race drastically differed from their previous practice session performances. As a result, the leader of the Silver Arrows team, Toto Wolff, has openly explained the reasons behind the team’s underperformance to the media.
Toto Wolff sheds light on major issue in Mecedes W15
This week’s Saturday was a huge disappointment for Mercedes, with the deterioration of their performance due to a miscalculation in the cooling of their W15 car. This has cost the team the opportunity to easily secure a podium finish and initiate the 2024 campaign with an auspicious start.
Toto Wolff claims Mercedes’ cooling issues cost them over half a second a lap:
— Mercedes-AMG F1 News (@MercedesNewsUK) March 2, 2024
“If you switch 0.3-4s of power unit performance off, then you have to lift-and-coast on top, I think altogether it was 5 or 6 tenths of a second that we couldn't take from what the car had in it.”
Reflecting upon their performance, the Austrian stated, “As the race unfolded, we had to lift and coast more to manage the temperatures on the power unit; we closed it up too much; that was the main issue, and then we didn’t have the pace.”
“We’ve seen glimpses of performance, but we couldn’t materialise any of that today, so I’m really keen to look at the data and see what we can do in Saudi Arabia next weekend.”
Despite the high hopes the team principal of the Silver Arrows had for the main race, he confirmed that a minor miscalculation had disrupted the drivers’ incredible driving skills.
Mercedes performance at Bahrain GP 2024
Initially, on Saturday, George Russell started from the third position in the grid. However, after securing second place while racing for a short period of time, his performance started lacking due to the W15’s engine overheating and battery-running issues. The same problem occurred for the seven-time World Champion who ultimately could secure the seventh position after starting from ninth place.
After the main race, Russell elaborated on the main issues faced by them while driving by saying, “We both faced a similar problem; for whatever reason, we had massive engine overheating and the battery wasn’t working properly.”
And heres comes the Mercedes down the main straight…#bahrainGP pic.twitter.com/QdcpHJcPqW
— Kdon (@kdon116) March 1, 2024
“I made a really good start, got into second, and I just thought, ‘here we go’ and suddenly I had these big red alarms on my steering wheel, and I had no battery left, and we had to turn the power down.”
However, he has assured the audience that these issues will not last in the future, as they are prepared to improve the car further and enhance their performance in the remaining Grand Prix events throughout this season.
Will Mercedes be able to cope with the Bahrain GP’s terrible performance? Tell us about your opinions in the comment section below.
