'Catastrophe' In Mercedes As Some People 'Don't Even Know What They're Doing'
F1Wednesday, 10 April 2024 at 13:45
Six-time Grand Prix winner Ralf Schumacher suggested Mercedes "has a problem" after the fourth round of the 2024 season at Suzuka Circuit.
The 2024 Japanese Grand Prix started out pretty promising for seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who said his car felt the best it had ever felt after the first two practice sessions.
He previously struggled with drivability, and apparently, it felt much better all of a sudden, so the 39-year-old went into the qualifying with almost the same setup.
While he retained the great feeling in the car and out-qualified his teammate George Russell for the first time this season, his best time was still more than half a second slower than Max Verstappen's and only good enough for P7.
Looking at the current level of the German team's performance, former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher asserted they have a problem and that some inside the team don't even know what they're doing. As quoted by F1 Oversteer, he told Sky Germany:
"[Lewis Hamilton has] run away for 2025 […] because he no longer believes in the team. Mercedes has a problem at the moment."
"It's a catastrophe what they're doing at the moment. Some of them don't even know what they're doing."
The race itself didn't go much better for Mercedes as they chose an alternative strategy for all remaining teams, keeping two sets of hard compound tires through which they had to go.
As a result, Both Russell and Hamilton lost too much time during their first stint and had trouble catching up with the rest of the drivers in front of them.
In the end, it was P7 for the 25-year-old and P9 for the seven-time world champion. Concerning the alternative race strategy that the Mercedes F1 team went for, Schumcahcer added:
"It's […] almost desperate, at least that's the impression."
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