Mercedes to launch W17 investigation after drastic Brazilian GP issues

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has revealed that the team will investigate the root cause of the balance problems that plagued both drivers during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The German marque sealed the Constructors’ title despite an incident-ridden race at Interlagos that saw George Russell and Kimi Antonelli spin out of podium contention.

Mercedes records disappointing title-crowning race in Brazil

Russell was at a loss to explain why his Mercedes had ended up pointing in the wrong direction at the exit of the pit lane on Lap 14, while Antonelli, likewise, admitted that he had no indication that he was going to lose his car at Turn 1 three laps later.

The Italian had even more reason to be aggrieved than his teammate, given that his incident occurred as he was leading the race, having passed Lando Norris at the start.

But while a late rain shower brought Antonelli and Russell back into contention, the Mercedes duo reported that their respective W17 cars were behaving strangely on the intermediate tyre, leaving them unable to challenge Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull for third.

Russell, who was the lead Mercedes home in fourth, divulged that the team’s initial rationale for its late-race slump centred on a potentially irrecoverable spike in tyre temperatures that transpired on both drivers’ out-laps on the green-walled compound.

Asked why Mercedes’ competitiveness tailed off so suddenly in the final stint, the Briton replied: “We really don’t know.

“I was quite excited when the rain was coming, but then Kimi and I had absolutely no pace. So we need to understand why that was.

“There’s maybe a small theory because we were the first onto the inter that even just on that out lap on the driest track, you damage the tyres and the temps go up and you’re in this negative spiral. As of now, that’s the only explanation.”

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Pressed on the matter post-race, Wolff explained that he is inclined to think that the issue was intrinsically related to the tyre pressures or the set-up direction that Mercedes chose.

Mercedes will find out in its post-Brazilian GP investigation into the matter.

“I think both have been given a very tricky car at times,” Wolff acknowledged. “George is not someone that spins in the pit lane on the exit, and Kimi the same.

“Both reported a very, very strange behaviour of the car, like something’s broken on the suspension or too much pressure in the tyres.

“And whilst it was not only them, because Max [Verstappen] said the same thing, I believe that we’ve gotten something wrong on pressures or on the set-up because also now looking at the cars, the rear tyres are completely worn. The fronts are like new, so there’s something which we haven’t spotted.

“But then at times in the race we were absolutely flying. So we are walking away with an interesting exercise to find out what it was, but with a positive mindset after winning the Constructors’ Championship.”

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