Mercedes had a challenging weekend at the Miami International Autodrome, as Lewis Hamilton dropped out of qualifying in Q2 amid struggles with the handling of the W14.
George Russell made it through to Q3 to start from P6 but a red flag incident would leave him behind the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.
The poor start to the race left Mercedes on the backfoot from the start, having to rely on tyre strategy to pick up key points in their Constructors’ battle with Aston Martin.
While Russell and Hamilton recovered during the Grand Prix to take P4 and P6 respectively, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff wasn’t impressed with the weekend, remaining downbeat post-race.
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“That’s the story of the car, that we have very good sessions like on Friday, then we had very difficult qualifying, and then on Sunday we have solid pace,” Wolff told reporters.
“But solid pace is not where we want to be, and we need to understand why we are lacking that speed for a lap.
“So there is nothing to be relieved of by having a more decent Sunday, because you’ve got to start at the front and you’ve got to be able to manage the Red Bulls and the other teams, and that’s not the case yet.”
Mercedes weren’t close to the Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez during the race finishing over 18 seconds behind the Dutchman’s car.
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Wolff did take time to acknowledge that Hamilton put on a “mega performance” to get into the points after his difficult qualifying, even overtaking the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
However, without a serious change in their performance when the team unveils their upgrade package at Imola, Mercedes won’t be able to challenge Red Bull for the title this season.
As it stands, Red Bull is 122 points clear of Aston Martin in the Constructors’ race, while Mercedes languishes in P3.