Mercedes expecting to be less exposed at coming F1 races

Mercedes has outlined the track characteristics at upcoming Formula 1 tracks may expose the W15's weaknesses “a little bit less”.

The Brackley-based squad has endured a difficult start to the campaign and currently sits fourth in the standings after the opening six rounds.

Its best result of the year came at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, where George Russell crossed the line in fifth.

Last time out in Miami, Mercedes brought upgrades to its car with further developments expected next weekend in Imola.

Following the complete introduction of new parts, Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin outlined it will face differing challenges at each of the circuits that follow Imola.

“Coming up, we have Monaco, Montreal and then Barcelona,” he said.

“You have two circuits that are predominantly low-speed corners, certainly Montreal, it is all low speed. And then you have Barcelona, which with its new layout, where they have removed the chicane, is an extremely fast circuit.

“A lot of mid-speed and very, very, very high-speed corners. So quite a range for us to deal with. We are not expecting we are going to go to Monaco and suddenly be looking extremely quick.

“But what you can find is that the subtle differences in those tracks can expose those weaknesses a little bit less.”

Mercedes must 'develop our way' out of woes

Mercedes has struggled to get up to speed under the new set of technical regulations, winning just a single race since the beginning of 2022.

The team has highlighted on several occasions that there are no silver bullets to pull itself from the slump in form - a point Shovlin reiterated after Miami.

“If you took somewhere like Montreal, you are only dealing with one-speed range, it can be a bit easier to get the car in the window,” he stated.

“We all do all the normal preparation work, but fundamentally, we need to develop our way out of this problem by bringing performance updates to the car.

“That is what we are working on. And then at the track, we will just try and optimise what we have got as best we can, pick up as many points as we can in the meantime.

“It is really those two areas that we are working on simultaneously.”