Mercedes struggled in the early stages of the race before their pace improved in the latter stages. According to team principal Ross Brawn, the falling temperatures were the cause.
Polesitter Nico Rosberg dropped from the lead to finish ninth after making four stops. Lewis Hamilton had a better race after he climbed four positions to finish fifth – but his opening pace pushed him back to 12th before a late surge in the second half of the race.
Brawn admitted they need to work on this area in particular to ensure they remain competitive throughout the entire race.
“We struggled badly in the early part of the race when the track temperatures were at their highest,” he explained. “This is an issue we have to address and we will continue working on solutions to improve our performance in this area.
“In the second half of the race, as the track temperatures cooled somewhat, our pace was not bad – particularly with Lewis.”
He described the race as “damage limitation” after they managed to get both cars to the end of the race in points paying positions.
“We got two cars home in the points, both drivers enjoyed some exciting wheel-to-wheel racing and the pit crew delivered some great stops. Lewis and Nico did as good a job as possible with the car we had this afternoon but it was a case of damage limitation for both of them.
“However we must make it a priority to cope better with elevated temperatures: the tyres are the same for everybody and we are not performing as well as our competitors in these conditions.”
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