The previous two System 1 race weekends haven’t been too sort to Toto Wolff and Mercedes.
Two weeks in the past in Austin, each Lewis Hamilton and George Russell began behind the grid in america Grand Prix, Hamilton after a surprising elimination in Q1 and Russell after a shunt in Q3 compelled the workforce to make modifications to his W15, requiring a pit lane begin. Whereas Russell managed to get into the factors in Austin, Hamilton spun out of the race on simply the second lap.
In Mexico Metropolis final weekend, the workforce delivered a third-row lockout, with Hamilton ending fifth and Russell sixth. Nonetheless, they lacked the tempo to combat on the entrance within the Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix.
Now they head to Brazil for the ultimate race of this triple-header, hoping for “smoother” crusing in South America.
“The previous two races in Austin and Mexico Metropolis haven’t been our cleanest so we’re aiming for a smoother weekend at Interlagos,” mentioned Wolff within the workforce’s media preview. “Regardless of the challenges within the US and Mexico, we now have furthered our studying with the W15. Given our place within the championship, we now have been in a position to check issues out with little penalty. While we’re nonetheless targeted on maximizing our consequence every weekend, that testing and studying might be worthwhile in setting us up strongly for 2025. We are going to proceed that method this weekend in Brazil.
”Interlagos is a correct driver’s circuit with loads of undulation and a problem mixture of low, medium, and high-speed corners. Given that it’s the penultimate Dash format of the yr, we must execute successfully from the primary session to get the automobile in a very good window,” added Wolff. “We all know it will likely be troublesome to problem the Ferraris and the McLarens who’ve regarded sturdy in latest races. We are going to nonetheless be working exhausting to take action although and can see the place our relative efficiency is over the weekend.”
Mercedes enters the ultimate stretch of the season, sitting fourth within the Constructors’ Championship standings. The hole to Purple Bull in entrance of them is 146 factors, probably too large a mountain for the Silver Arrows to climb over the ultimate 4 race weekends.
However a smoother time of issues in Brazil can be a very good begin to that climb.