Mercedes expects this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix will provide a “stern test” towards validating the recent progress the team has made with its 2024 Formula 1 car.
The marque’s sluggish start was dispelled in Canada as it emerged as the most competitive team in dry conditions to bag pole position and third with George Russell.
Mercedes insisted going into Montreal that it was back on the right path and a new front wing in Monaco has appeared to dial out the squad’s earlier balance hitches.
But Mercedes Technical Director James Allison is cautious about assessing Mercedes’ inroads until those upgrades can be evaluated on a more conventional circuit.
Allison believes Barcelona’s diverse cornering speed ranges will prove a vital barometer to determining whether Mercedes is now a consistent fixture at the sharp end.
When asked about the operating range with the car being widened since developments were added to the W15, Allison said: “I think we have broadened it substantially.
“There is more we still need to do, and we will know for sure when we go to the next track, which is Barcelona, because there is really a very substantial range of cornering conditions.
“There is also a much hotter track, and so that will be quite a stern test of a vehicle.”
Allison also stressed how crucial it will be that the drivers get the tyres in the correct working window amid Lewis Hamilton’s continued one-lap struggles in Canada.
“Drivers have a very difficult job to do on an out lap,” he expanded.
“We are not allowed in the garages to heat the tyres to higher than 70 degrees, but the tyres themselves need to be hotter than that to get the best from them on the lap.
“They have to manage the out lap of the qualifying before their flying lap, such that they bring the front tyres and the rear tyres into their window, while also respecting the minimum times that the race director has imposed on them as a thing, and not blocking cars behind them, and it is very, very difficult out lap to get the tyres in the right place.
“It does not take much by way of being a degree here, cold here or there, to just take the edge off them.
“And then they launch into the first corners. If the car is not as well prepared as it might be, then the tyres will just slip a little bit on the surface.
“That will make them overheat on the surface, and you lose a bit of grip, and then it will just run away from you.
“Not by much, but look at the front end of the grid. Lewis was only the blink of an eye slower than George, and George was on pole, and Lewis was seventh.
“They are fussy in as much as it is very hard to get the absolute best from them, and the gaps between you and your competitors are tiny.
“You are punished very heavily for very, very small transgressions.”
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