Mercedes in the wrong direction with its set-up
Lewis Hamilton had started well, but the afternoon was more complicated than expected for the men in grey. Beyond the average ranking, the set-up needs to be reviewed!
Hamilton: FP1 → 1st, 1:13.425 (33 laps) / FP2 → 8th, 1:13.873 (31 laps)
The day and the night. There you have in five words the summary of the first day of the Briton’s team in Monaco!
After the first session, the engineers of the three-time world champion made significant changes to his settings during the lunch break. The result: the Briton was a second and a tenth behind when the checkered flag was waved this afternoon!
« We were not the best today » duly acknowledged the driver marked with the number 44.
The FP1 was really very good. But during FP2, we struggled to extract grip from our tires. We slid in many corners!
Beyond the gap over one lap, the difficulty also repeated itself with the super-soft tires, on a flying lap, or during a race simulation stint.
I don’t know why the tires were not working. The difference between the two sessions was phenomenal! We have work ahead of us by Saturday. But I am confident in what the team can achieve. Ferrari is still fast and Red Bull is also not bad this weekend. We are expecting a real fight!
Bottas: FP1 → 4th, 1:13.791 (40 laps) / FP2 → 10th, 1:13.902 (39 laps)
The Finn experienced the same issues as his teammate due to changes during the lunch break. He now hopes that the gap with Ferrari can be closed.
« We made some changes between FP1 and FP2. We clearly went in the wrong direction. I hope the gap isn’t real! »
Generally comfortable during Free Practice, the race winner in Sochi was also unable to dominate his teammate, losing three-tenths in the morning. However, he finished within the same tenth in the afternoon.
« The second session was difficult. We struggled with our pace over one lap. When the car isn’t perfect, you quickly lose time in Monaco.
« We cannot be happy with an eighth and a tenth place. Everything was going well during FP1, but we wanted to adjust the car’s balance. We got it all wrong! Then, we tried to revert to the morning setup. But at that point in the session, we already had a lot of laps on our tires. At least we learned what doesn’t work with the setup… »
From now on, all that’s left is to roll up our sleeves and work to avoid a repeat of Singapore 2015. During the Free Practice sessions, both Mercedes cars had gone astray in their setups on an atypical, hot track. So many parallels can be drawn with this weekend’s event…
🏁 That’s your lot from #FP2
P8 #LH44 ⏱ 1:13.873
P10 #VB77 ⏱ 1:13.902Work to do tonight… 💪💪💪#MonacoGP 🇲🇨 #F1 pic.twitter.com/yM3RMG9uNz
— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) 25 mai 2017
