P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Mercedes has revealed that the team’s challenging weekend in Australia provided some productive lessons in understanding the troubles with its
Mercedes had a challenging race at the Albert Park Circuit, with Lewis Hamilton retiring due to an engine failure and George Russell crashing on the last lap. Before this, Mercedes showed promising lap times in qualifying, with Russell qualifying seventh, but Hamilton being eliminated in Q2. Hamilton experimented with extreme setups in practice, causing some setbacks, but was pleased with the car’s performance in FP3. The team noticed a trend where their competitiveness decreased as track temperatures rose, leading to struggles in qualifying and the race. Mercedes aimed to widen the operating window of their car to address inconsistencies in performance seen in the previous races. This involved analyzing data, making setup adjustments, and potentially revisiting underlying features like aerodynamics or suspension characteristics.
