Mercedes had a poor weekend at the Barcelona Grand Prix overall, given their status as the season’s strong favorites.
The Barcelona track was formerly the testing ground for the preseason due to its having characteristics of many different kinds of tracks.
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With Barcelona coming a decent chunk into the season, it is now a track where teams bring big upgrades and look to fully realize their benchmark.
Despite Mercedes taking pole position, they ended up falling well short of a victory, losing to Ferrari by 19.5 seconds, and Kimi Antonelli suffered a reliability issue that cost him.
The car has certainly been bolstered by its class-leading power unit, which has given it a significant advantage in natural lap time.
However, Barcelona has exposed the car’s lack of speed in aerodynamic performance.
“The W17 is clearly a good car, not just a mediocre one elevated by a mega power unit. There was already more than a hint of its impressive downforce in Monaco, where Kimi Antonelli blitzed the opposition on a track that obviously isn’t power sensitive,” F1 reporter Scott Mitchell-Malm wrote for The Race.
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“Putting three-tenths of a second on customer McLaren at a proper aero track like Barcelona showed the car’s one-lap potency.
“Mercedes’ bid to win faded when early race leader George Russell started struggling in the second and third stints, though. Its faster driver Kimi Antonelli was happier with the pace of the car, so this was a silver lining – but he retired late on with yet another Mercedes technical problem.
“Russell called it ‘a big concern,’ and the lack of pace he had on the hard compound gives Mercedes homework to do on the car side, too.”
With Ferrari making notable gains in car development, McLaren likely continuing to push, and Red Bull increasing their desperation, Mercedes cannot afford to sit on their hands.
This past weekend’s developments highlight the need for a serious upgrade package.
