The Mercedes team is off to a lacklustre start in the 2024 season; their W15 car is plagued by inconsistency from one session to the next and falls short of the expected performance seen in their simulations. This was glaringly evident at the recent Australian Grand Prix, where Lewis Hamilton retired due to an engine…
The modern ground effect era of Formula 1 has proven a tricky battleground for Mercedes, who started the current regulation cycle with their infamous ‘zero pod’ concept, which soon proved to be a failed concept rather than the ground breaking innovation they hoped for. Plagued by porpoising issues and an insurmountable amount of drag, the concept was altered for the first few races of 2023, before it was binned altogether from the Monaco Grand Prix onwards.
Aside from Carlos Sainz’s superb victory at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon in Melbourne, the biggest talking to point to come out of the Grand Prix is the controversial 20-second penalty handed out to Fernando Alonso by the stewards for “potentially dangerous driving” that saw George Russell crash as race leader Sainz started…
The first three races of Formula One’s 2024 season have been wrapped up. Three down, twenty-one to go. With their trip to down under, the grid seems to have stabilised into set patterns. The teams have a better understanding of their cars, the consistent kinks they need to iron out — Mercedes, however, still does…
Having started the Australian Grand Prix in P7, George Russell was running a solid race for the majority of the laps, however on the last lap it all came undone for the Mercedes driver. After Lewis Hamilton retired on the lap 17 with a suspected engine failure, Russell was the only Silver Arrows driver in…
Fernando Alonso’s performance at Albert Park was a story of highs and lows, and alongside a challenging weekend in terms of pace, the two-time world champion suffered a post-race penalty due to “potentially dangerous driving.” The early VSC to clear Hamilton’s Mercedes period proved to be a stroke of luck for Alonso, allowing him to capitalise…
Albert Park always makes for interesting and chaotic events, with today’s Australian GP being a perfect example of the instance as Carlos Sainz broke yet another lengthy streak of Max Verstappen wins on his return from appendix surgery. However, it is also a track where crashes can be extremely dangerous. On the last lap of…
After a tense qualifying yesterday the lights turned green for the formation lap. With Zhou Guanyu starting from the pitlane and Logan Sargeant having to give up his car to teammate Alex Albon there were just 18 cars on the grid, and at lights out it was Max Verstappen who had a clean getaway, while both Mercedes-drivers gained a place.
George Russell secured a respectable seventh place in today’s qualifying session, setting up for a strong performance in Sunday’s race in Melbourne. In a post-qualifying interview, Russell reflected on his performance throughout the weekend thus far, acknowledging that the competition has been tight on track. Mercedes had looked very competitive in final practice. Both drivers…
The first driver to post a time in final practice was Sergio Perez, with the Mexican logging a 1:19.206. Verstappen responded to that quickly as he beat it by 0.615s. Both drivers were on mediums. Perez went again and smashed in a 1:17.927 to go 0.664s ahead of the Dutchman thanks to three purple sectors….
