Fred l ramey jr

In the early phase of the season, the Mercedes would have the edge in races because its W14 car was much less harsh on its tyres than the Ferrari SF-23. However, as Ferrari has made gains in understanding why its 2023 challenger was so hard on its rubber early on, its race pace has improved dramatically. And with the two teams now locked in a fight for runners-up in the constructors' championship, the switch in car characteristic could prove critical as their fight plays out over the remaining six races of the campaign. At the recent Japanese Grand Prix, where tyre degradation was a critical factor in deciding the pace on Sunday, Ferrari showed how on top of things it was as Charles Leclerc finished ahead of the Mercedes lead car of Lewis Hamilton . This was a result that Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin believed proved that Ferrari was no longer behind with its management of tyre degradation. Shovlin reckoned that Mercedes' lack of … [Read more...] about Mercedes fears it has lost race-day F1 tyre edge over Ferrari

The lack of practice time ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, due to the Sprint format, isn’t a concern for the Mercedes team. The return of the Sprint format for this weekend’s race at the Lusail Circuit means that the Formula 1 teams have just one hour of practice to nail down their setups before entering parc ferme conditions for the remainder of the weekend. It’s the fourth Sprint weekend of the year, following on from the Azerbaijan, Austrian, and Belgian Grands Prix, which means a standalone day on Saturday for a ‘Sprint Shootout’ to decide the grid for Saturday’s Sprint race. Mercedes unconcerned having ‘learned quite a bit’ about W14 With the lack of practice time meaning deciding on a setup can be a daunting task for the teams, given there’s so little time to refine the setup before it’s unchangeable, Mercedes say they aren’t unduly concerned about having only 60 minutes to nail it down. This is due to Mercedes having a fundamentally better understanding of their W14 … [Read more...] about Mercedes explain fearless approach despite Qatar sprint-induced compromise