Toto Wolff explains weakness: “We'll flatten the tire”

(Motorsport-Total.com) – Even after the first defeat of the season 2020 there is no doubt that that the Mercedes F1 W 11 EQ Efficiency is the fastest car in the field. But: Similar to some of its silver predecessor models, the “black arrow” also seems to be a “tire eater”. Otherwise Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Botta’s Silverstone 2 would never have lost to Max Verstappen and Crimson Bull.

Anyone looking for simple explanations in Formula 1 is usually wrong. The basic principle behind the first Mercedes defeat actually seems to be simple: “If you have a lot of downforce,” explains team boss Toto Wolff in an interview with ‘Sky’, “then of course the tire screams.”

“Downforce is really good in the rain and in the cold. The tire comes into the operating window. When it’s hot, it goes beyond the operating window. It is both a blessing and a curse that we are really fast in most races and drive out of competition. But in other races where the tire is the limiting factor, we run out of tires discontinuance, “he says.

It’s nice to watch the warfare on Sunday. As early as the sixth lap, the Mercedes control center had to tell its drivers to keep an eye on the tire temperatures. And when Hamilton and Bottas had long since switched to the second sentence and reported problems again, Verstappen radioed, still on the first sentence: “Everything is fine.”

Bottas is amazed by Verstappen’s tires

“I looked at Max’s tires after the race. They saw still looks like new “, Bottas is amazed. “Lewis and me, on the other hand, were completely covered with bubbles. So there is obviously a difference. We don’t yet know exactly why that is.”

That doesn’t just affect the question how far the Mercedes can go on one set of tires. But when the tread of the tires threatens to overheat and the first bubbles form in the rubber, you have to counteract this early on in order not to lose the tires completely. Specifically, that means: less gas, especially in the fast corners. An efficiency killer.

“The more downforce you have, the more you use the tires”, Wolff repeats. “Now we have to see how we can fine-tune the car to take some pressure off the tires. I’m really excited to see how we handle that in Barcelona. We have a few days to understand all of this. And there is nothing Better than such a challenge! “

The Mercedes engineers can’t do much, explains Andrew Shovlin:” We’re flying out on Tuesday, driving again on Friday. The weather forecast is over 30 Degree. The route will be very similar: a high-energy layout, many fast corners. Usa is already clear: If we don’t turn it quickly, we will also look stupidly out of the laundry next Sunday. “

After all:” We will now put the cars in the simulator “, announces Wolff for the short cease to Barcelona. “There are initial opinions as to why it all went like this. I’m very excited and excited to see how we will manage it on Friday. I am convinced that we will be better than today.”

In any case, Hamilton doesn’t rely on having the fastest car in the gray (qualifying) theory: “Maybe we could have driven Onerous-Medium-Onerous. But I think they would have won anyway. Although we tried to get the tires on they looked really bad. On the other hand, you couldn’t see anything on the Crimson Bull. “

Hamilton demands:” Back to the drawing board “

The World Cup Leader ( 30 Points ahead of Verstappen ) now demands resolute action Action by his team: “Back to the drawing board,” he says – knowing: Used to be, the theoretically fastest car will help you on a lap if you don’t get into it in the race because of tire wear Can implement victories?

Silverstone has mercilessly shown the weaknesses of the Mercedes. Curves like Copse, Becketts or Stowe demand everything from Pirelli tires. It was no coincidence that the tires burst on both Mercedes on the first Silverstone weekend. Due to the rubber compounds, which were presorted one degree harder, the discipline was not completely clear.

But the delicate thing that was perceived as too soft in Silverstone 1 was the medium with which a proper racing stint had to be possible. Shovlin admits that the extent could have been underestimated: “On the first weekend we had a security automobile segment. Therefore we drove on the Onerous most of the time.” It wasn’t even available on the second weekend.

“We have always said that the days when we lose are the days when we win the most – and the days that our opponents should fear “, philosophizes Wolff. “Today’s ticket showed that you have to be humble. People have said that the World Cup is over and Mercedes will win every race. But we won’t.”

“We already had early signs that the hotter it gets, the hotter it gets, “he explains. “To say it does when it gets hotter would be a bit of a simplification. We have to acknowledge that the Crimson Bull is a very fast car when certain parameters such as temperatures, tire compounds, tire pressures change. We have now seen that. “