Mercedes sees improvements: 'Team has not forgotten how to win'

Mercedes have work to do this season after years of dominance. The new regulations have left the reigning world champions trailing the top teams and the porpoising of the cars of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell only caused more problems in the opening stages of this season.

However, the German team seems to be finding more and more solutions. It is remarkable how long it took them to find a solution for the bouncing of the car. At Red Bull Racing, the problem was solved quite quickly, partly due to the knowledge of designer Adrian Newey, who was already working at the top of motorsport at the time when the ground effect started to play a role in F1.

Motivation and confidence with Mercedes

When Mercedes chief Andrew Shovlin is asked if that is an advantage for this season at Sky Sports, he says he thinks so. “I think the vast majority of us wouldn't be working in that period. It may well be that has been an advantage that Red Bull have with Adrian's experience.” Nevertheless, Shovlin acknowledges that Mercedes' mistakes were mainly of their own making.

According to Shovlin, the design and understanding of the regulations was not right in the first place, and that is why they started out behind. “We know that we haven't done a good job with the design of this car and understanding these regulations. We are working really hard to get back to where we need to. For us the important thing is to find the development direction so that we can keep putting performance on the car.”