Mercedes’ team boss Toto Wolf has stated that the team ‘need to change direction’ after a disappointing start to the 2024 Miami Grand Prix weekend.
It was a far-from-perfect start for the Brackley team, with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton qualifying in 11th and 12th respectively for the Sprint. Things didn’t get much better during the Sprint earlier today; both cars failed to make much headway from the middle of the pack, and Hamilton picked up a penalty for a pit lane infringement for the second time this weekend. Russell ultimately finished in P12, while the seven-time Champion Hamilton plummeted to P16.
“I think the penalty for the pit lane speeding, these things you know can happen, these errors, and in that respect I think the pace of the car was not so bad today to the limited amount we were able to see there. Setup wise it’s clearly we need to change direction for Quali.”
Wolff also stated while they need to ‘change direction’, Sprint races can mean drivers can make limited progress;
“I don’t think you can expect a lot at a Sprint race, not lots of overtaking, you can see a quick on the straight like Ricciardo is able to hold back the train and insofar they basically end up where they start.”
However, while Mercedes struggled in the Sprint, it could be predominantly down to the tyres – an issue we’ve seen plague multiple teams this weekend. Looking ahead to the rest of the weekend, teams will be looking to learn from the issues they’ve had so far;
“They weren’t working, the mediums, at all. Literally zero grip and then you get all the snaps and you have no performance anymore. But no excuse, we’ve seen it with other teams in Q3 with the McLarens that were on the soft and suddenly it was going backwards, so they remained a little bit of a trick but it’s the same for everyone.”