Mercedes Motor sports director Toto Wolff has created clarity about reports that there is said to have been a “crisis meeting” within the team after the Grand Prix of Belgium. The starting point was statements by George Russell after the disappointing race in Spa that a “big meeting” was pending during the week, which had led to speculation.
But the Wolff is off to Sky: “This is always a nonsense that is told about crisis meeting. Every week we do meetings where the car is and what we can do better,” he clarifies.
“And one of these meetings was exactly as planned with the drivers last week. We do that regularly, every few months. And that was the big meeting. And was very interesting,” said the Austrian.
Russell, who believes that his statements about a large meeting have been “probably a little exaggerated”. “We talk to everyone in the factory every month anyway. Of course we talk to the track team here on site every week – so that’s nothing unusual.”
“This meeting was actually planned three or four weeks ago, just like everyone else of this kind,” he says. “But it is clear: our performance as a team has deteriorated in the last six or seven races, and we are trying to find out why.”
The first solution: Mercedes changes back to an old suspension in Hungary, which should give the drivers more trust. The new specification from Imola seemed to have brought the silver arrows out of the step.
Russell: No breakthrough, but …
“The problem with the new rear axle that we had had for a few races that the rear was just totally unstable and did not trust,” explains Wolff. “And we have that now. We have now put the old rear axle back on. And both drivers say that is gone.” Therefore, Mercedes will remain with the old specification in the further weekend.
For George Russell it was an improvement: “The car was better to drive, it was more fun. We both had more trust in the car,” he says. “At the moment we are more likely to look at the upper half of the time list than on the lower one – and that is a progress towards Spa.”
The Briton became seventh with almost eight tenths of a second. “Of course, it always feels good when you are a little further up on the time monitor,” says Russell and speaks of a strange day. The two Aston Martin in particular surprise him “they seem to have taken a decent step”.
“We just have to find this last little little so that our knot bursts again. Today it was not a breakthrough – but we didn’t expect any. So we just keep going and work bit by bit.”
Antonelli with more trust in the car
The day was also important for Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who is currently looking for a way out of the crisis. According to Wolff, the tenth place for him does not correspond to reality: “Kimi has lost a lot of time on his fast round, which means that he would have been much further ahead,” he says.
“But today he says, he feels comfortable in the car,” continued Wolff. “And as I said, you don’t see it on the stopwatch, in the classification, but it wasn’t bad.”
Antonelli himself speaks of a good day: “I am quite satisfied because I finally get confidence in the car,” says the rookie. “Sure, I still lack a little bit in front of me, but I think we work well. We have changed a lot on the car because it felt like a big step with the old suspension – the car was completely different.”
“We are currently trying to re-balance the set-up. The Longrun in FT2 was good. Only when I tried soft I had some traffic in the last sector, so the round was not completely clean,” said the Italian.
“The Longrun was also good in the past, but now it will be important to put on strong qualifying because the starting position here is crucial. This will clearly be the main focus tomorrow.”