Both Mercedes drivers expressed their irritation after two torrid practise sessions in Melbourne on Friday.
If the two practise sessions ahead of the Australian Grand Prix were anything to go by, Mercedes may be struggling to finish in the points this weekend. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell had a rather disastrous FP1 and it was followed by an even worse FP2.
In FP1, Hamilton went P7 while Russell grabbed P13. However, in FP2, Russell finished P11 and Hamilton P13 as the British manufacturer continued their early-season struggles. The two drivers will be batting in the midfield if Mercedes are unable to find a solution to deal with the issues.
At the end of a rather underwhelming day at Albert Park, Hamilton made it no secret that Mercedes had been struggling for pace. The Briton failed to get out of Q1 in Jeddah and went on to explain that the eight-time Constructors’ champions were finding it difficult to find a solution to their problems.
The 37-year-old spoke to Sky Sports and said that he was facing the challenge of driving a tricky car during the two free practice sessions, “It was a difficult session. Nothing you change on the car makes a difference at the moment, that’s the difficult thing. You get in very optimistic, and you make changes, and then it doesn’t seem to be wanting to improve. We made some changes going into P2; P1 was better and P2 ended up being a bit harder for me. I don’t know, it’s just a tricky car.” he said.
The seven-time world champion went on to explain that it won’t be easy for his Mercedes team to find a quick fix for the issues but will be hoping to deal with it as time progresses.
Meanwhile, Hamilton’s teammate George Russell went into the details of the problems and went on the stated that he was still facing porpoising issues. “We’re definitely porpoising pretty badly in Turn 9. It’s probably the most severe I’ve experienced. But I think it’s just something that we’ll have to deal with for the time being. We believe that’s the fastest way around the track, but maybe it’s not,” added Russell.
Mercedes are still in 2nd place in the Constructors’ championship but the defending champions are far behind the pace set by Ferrari and Red Bull.
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