Mercedes came away from Melbourne with "quiet satisfaction" after qualifying on the front row and finishing in second place during the Australian Grand Prix. Even though George Russell retired with engine problems – marking the second Mercedes power unit failure so far – the team believe they have unlocked more performance from their troubled W14 package. "Overall, a sense of quiet satisfaction that we have moved the car forward," said Chief Technical Officer, James Allison, on their Strategy Debrief video. "From a performance point of view, we probably got as much as it is able to give right now. "That happiness of course is tempered by the disappointment that we only got one car to the flag and that George was not able to show what he was capable of in the car on race day, having performed very strongly up to that point in the weekend."
No 'huge breakthroughs' at Mercedes
Mercedes are currently scrambling to address the inherent issues with their car concept, after they discovered the W14 still suffers from legacy issues of the W13 which are stopping them from closing the gap to Red Bull. Allison conceded that the team did not experience "huge breakthroughs", but feels that Mercedes can be proud of their recent form after showing they could compete with Aston Martin on race pace in Australia. "We didn't have huge breakthroughs, but we moved forward a little bit," Allison explained. "We put a small amount on the leaders Red Bull, and we are starting to get on terms with – and maybe just nose, a whisker, in front of – the Ferraris and the Aston Martins."
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