Concerns for Mercedes: 'Extent of issue worse than expected'

Mercedes was satisfied with the car's performance after the Spanish Grand Prix, but a week later it fared much less well in Monaco. It caused quite a bit of disappointment at the German racing stable, according to Scott Mitchell.

The team of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton has been diligently searching for the right balance of the car all season. Partly due to problems with porpoising, Mercedes fell short of speed compared to Red Bull Racing and Ferrari from the very beginning of the race. With the updates in Barcelona it seemed to make a step forward, but for now it does not seem to be enough.

"Its ride quality is still poor, which seems to be a legacy of the car’s inherent stiffness," Mitchell writes. "Even though this problem wasn’t a total surprise to Mercedes in Monaco, as it knew its car still had inherent weaknesses, the extent of the issue was worse than expected."

The journalist from The Race expects Mercedes to have a very tough weekend and to fight for the points again. The first seven races proved that the Germans have a point packer in the house with Russell. The Brit finished in the top five every race.