Photo credits: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team had the third-fastest car in Monza behind Oracle Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Ferrari. With neither of these rivals suffering any issue on race day, the driver pairing of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton crossed the finish line as expected in P5 and P6 respectively. Mercedes’ Team Principal Toto Wolff told media post-race that “it’s good that Ferrari is on the podium, maybe they deserved it a little bit more.”
Having started Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix from the fourth place on the grid, George Russell knew that he would have his work cut out for him keeping Sergio Perez in an RB19 behind him. So, it proved, as despite some valiant defending early on by Russell, he eventually ceded the position to Perez and would come home P5 – having also incurred a five-second penalty along the way.
Meanwhile, George Russell’s teammate, Lewis Hamilton, had chosen to run an offset strategy by starting on the Hard tyre, having qualified P8 for Sunday’s race. The seven-time F1 Drivers’ World Champion was able to stay out on track longer than much of the field and running on medium tyres in the closing stages ensured he could pass both McLaren drivers (although not without incident in the case of Oscar Piastri) as well as Alex Albon. Hamilton also incurred a five-second penalty during the race for his part in the contact with McLaren’s rookie but still built the necessary gap to maintain his position in the final standings.
Such a performance meant that Mercedes would leave Monza with 18 points and a 45-point advantage over Scuderia Ferrari, However, having seen both drivers find their way to the last two steps of the podium, the prancing horse seem to be finding their stride.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO of Mercedes AMG-Petronas Formula One Team reflected on his team’s ‘pretty incident-filled race’ to media in Monza.
“We maximised the points that were in there today. But like always, we need to be careful not to be too happy about finishing fifth and sixth,” stated Wolff. One thing the man leading Mercedes did seem happy about was the entertainment on offer at Monza during the race.
“I think it’s good that Ferrari is on the podium, maybe they deserved it a little bit more. It was quite entertaining at the end, watching it. I had some flash memories that came to my mind of ‘are we interfering or are we letting them push each other out?’ I think [it was a] great, great spectacle for the tifosi. It gave some good entertainment and it’s just an unbelievable ambience here. It doesn’t go any better than Monza,” said Wolff.
Mercedes knew that a low-downforce circuit such as Monza would not be the team’s strong suit. However, with the next race on the calendar being in Singapore – a high downforce circuit – confidence must be high within the team that they can challenge closer to the front.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team explained in the team’s press release post-race: The car just doesn’t have the pace of the Ferrari at this downforce level. Fortunately, on normal tracks the fight is much closer but today was all about damage limitation and the team and drivers did a good job to minimise our points loss in the constructors’ championship.
Obviously, Toto Wolff is never going to be satisfied with P5 and P6 and nor would anyone in the ranks of Mercedes. However, he was clear that there are still positives to take from the W14’s latest outing.
“We are delivering the best possible job, considering the car’s lack of performance,”
Toto Wolff characteristically kept his cards close to his chest as he told reporters who posed the question as to whether his team can challenge Ferrari under the lights next time out “Let’s see whether we can outperform them in Singapore.”
With many races still to come in 2023, there is plenty of time for Scuderia Ferrari to make up the 45-point gap behind Mercedes. For that reason, it will be crucial for Mercedes to maximise the expected opportunity which Singapore should bring to their car.
