Mercedes say they are struggling to unlock the full potential of their “diva” of a car because the data they are seeing on their computers does not match what their drivers are telling them.
As the dust settled on a hectic first Miami Grand Prix, a race that completely divided fans, Mercedes’ fluctuating pace over the course of the weekend came under further scrutiny.
At times in Miami, Mercedes showed more pace than they have all season. George Russell, who profited from a late safety car to win a battle with team-mate Lewis Hamilton for fifth place, was fastest out of anyone in Friday practice.
But after making changes to the setup overnight, they lost all of that speed and were never able to get it back, even when they reverted to their Friday setup. Worse, they had no idea why that was, with Russell describing Friday as “a complete outlier”.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, who has described the W13 as a “diva”, says part of the issue is that the data being generated by their computers does not match the feedback they are getting from their drivers.
This is believed to be because the new aerodynamic regulations this season are so complex teams are unable to use their usual simulation tools.
“We’ve been straight from the beginning, flying in the fog a little bit,” Wolff admitted. “It’s clear there’s potential in the car and she’s fast, but we just don’t understand how to unlock the potential.
“It’s a car that is super difficult to drive and on the edge, dipping in and out of the performance window – more out than in.
“And discussing the data with a scalpel is just a painful process because it takes very long. As a matter of fact, the data sometimes doesn’t show what the drivers tell us. Certainly they have their hands full with a car that is just not at all comfortable, nice or predictable to drive. But the data doesn’t show any of these big swings.”
Wolff said this particular issue was a first for him: “We haven’t had this situation before in any of the years, that it just didn’t correlate on the screens what the driver feels and that is just making it even more difficult.”
Sunday’s race drew mixed reviews from European fans, but Formula 1 chiefs will be pleased with the strong television viewing figures generated in their core markets over the course of the weekend. Qualifying and race audiences were both up about 35 per cent on last year’s Austin Grand Prix.
One of the chief gripes of television viewers was the fact that the TV director kept cutting away from the action to focus on the grandstands and celebrities. This meant that much of the on-track action – for instance Russell having to give back position to Hamilton late in the race after gaining an advantage from leaving the track, before he passed him again – was missed.
In fact, Miami delivered the second-highest number of overtakes (45) in a race this year after Bahrain (58). That compares with 31 for Saudi Arabia, 27 for Australia and 13 for Imola.
Wolff gave the race “nine out of 10” for a first effort. “The city is totally hyped around Formula 1,” Wolff said. “The fan support is great and honestly, I have never been at a race that created such a buzz in a place and interest like Miami this time around. You can’t cross the paddock because there were so many people and that is good. I think we have to be happy that we have such strong support.
He added: “As for the race, you can say what you want. It was a first. Sometimes places get it wrong but this one didn’t get it wrong. For racing and for entertainment, it was great stuff. All in all, I would say for a first [running], nine out of 10.”
The Austrian also reacted to Hamilton’s clear frustration with the team. The seven-time world champion reprimanded his engineer for asking him whether he wanted to pit during the safety car period as he did not know where his rivals were relative to him.
“I think he was between a rock and a hard place because the Safety Car clearly came out in a situation that wasn’t favourable for him and was favourable for George in the back,” he said.
“George had a window with no one behind him. He was able to switch on a practically new medium and Lewis had to decide ‘Do I keep the position on a hard or do I go on a soft?’. That would have also been tricky so that was probably a 50-50 decision and in the end, it didn’t work out for him. It is not the first time this season that he has been unlucky with the Safety Car.”
Analysis: How Miami Grand Prix can improve after sacrificing its principles on the altar of celebrity.
It is difficult to recall a debut race which has produced a reaction as divided as Miami. Hailed by some as proof that Formula 1 has truly cracked the States, and captured a whole new demographic, it was slammed by others who felt it was a terrible race on a terrible track and proof that F1 has finally ‘jumped the shark’, sacrificing its principles on the altar of celebrity.
The truth is it was a bit of both. On the ground, it certainly felt as if the weekend just gone was one of the most extraordinary in Formula 1’s history. Just in terms of the scale of the project, the hype it generated. It will be interesting to see the figures for TV and socials because there is no doubt F1 felt like the epicentre of the sporting universe for a two- or three-hour window on Sunday. But nor was it as successful as Formula 1 would have wanted or hoped. There were myriad issues and the sport’s rulers must heed the lessons of this first race if they are to harness Miami’s full potential.
Firstly, and most obviously, there were serious issues with the track, both in terms of its layout and its surface. Lewis Hamilton famously compared one section, around the chicane, to driving in a “B&Q car park”. George Russell, meanwhile, was among a number of drivers to slam the poor condition of the surface, describing it as a safety issue, complaining that the drivers’ pleas to remove the pit lane blend entry lane were ignored, and arguing that overall badly impacted on the quality of the race.
Hospitality was, by all accounts, a disaster, which is very unlike F1. Tickets for Paddock Club, the most exclusive area of hospitality, cost around £10,000 a pop, so guests expect five-star service. Apparently, the catering was outsourced to a local company for the race and the results were deeply unimpressive with some insiders saying that many newcomers to the sport would have been put off for good.
The allegation that F1 chased the celebrity element too hard is difficult to rebut. Poor Martin Brundle copped a lot of flak for his gridwalk, but he was operating in extreme conditions. The grid was a zoo.
But it is easy to be snobbish about these things. I showed my taxi driver after the race a few pictures from the grid and he couldn’t believe some of the celebrities there, many of whom I had not recognised. “You don’t know Maluma?” he asked incredulously. “For real? He has like, 8 million Twitter followers!” He pulled up a YouTube video of the Colombian singer which had 1.7billion views. That is the kind of reach F1 dreams of harnessing.
The first Miami Grand Prix was far from perfect. The track needs modifying, the logistics in terms of traffic management, hospitality, hotels and so on could be better. It never quite felt as if the race ‘took over’ the city. The location of the Hard Rock Stadium meant fans were spread from Miami Beach to Fort Lauderdale, so there wasn’t really a Formula 1 vibe downtown (although Mercedes did do demo runs of their car on Miami Beach where a festival took place). But they will improve.
The race will probably never win over traditionalists who will always prefer a rainy day in a Northamptonshire airfield to a fake marina with a couple of mermaids lounging by the fake water for the cameras. But there has to be an acceptance that F1 would be mad not to try to harness its popularity in the States right now and appeal to Gen X. As Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, pointed out in the buildup, there should be room for both the Monzas and Spas of this world, and the Singapores and Miamis. Ps if you thought this was bad wait for Las Vegas next year.