Mercedes to move on from Austin blow with ‘sunny optimism’ for final four Formula One races

MEXICO CITY – Mercedes expect their upgraded car to perform strongly in the final four races of the Formula One season, despite the blow of having Lewis Hamilton disqualified from second place in Texas last Sunday.

Technical director James Allison said in a post-Austin debrief on Wednesday that he was confident there would be no repeat of the excessive skid-plate wear that led to the exclusion.

“Of course the disqualification is a significant blow. It’s a miserable feeling. It hurts and everybody here feels it,” said the Briton.

“Everybody is upset, embarrassed to a degree as well because we absolutely don’t like being on the wrong side of the rules and just lamenting the lost points.”

Allison said that feeling would soon be replaced by “a sunny optimism of knowing that the car looked bright on this upgraded package and we’ve got four more races to show what we can do with it”.

Mexico this weekend, with a high-altitude track and thin air, should be “pretty decent”, he said, adding: “The corners suit us, and the pace of the car should be good.”

Mercedes won in Brazil in 2022 with George Russell and that should be a race where “all the things we just put on the car should pay good dividends”.

Las Vegas, the penultimate race of the season and a novelty for this season with a night race in the cold desert air, will be a new challenge.

The season then ends in Abu Dhabi, where Allison again expected a positive showing.

“All four races differ in character... we’ll keep our fingers crossed that in one of those four, the dice might roll in our favour and we’ll achieve more than just a podium.”

Allison said Austin, despite the skid-plate problem, had actually been a “cast-iron vote of confidence in favour of what we put on the car”.

“The disqualification had everything to do with the set-up and the bumpiness of the track, amplified by the fact that it was a sprint weekend,” he explained.

“We just simply didn’t take enough margin at the end of free practice one. When we had done our set-up we checked the plank and everything looked fine, untouched after the FP1 running.

“The results of the race speak for themselves. We were illegal, so clearly we should have had our car set a little bit higher up to give ourselves a little bit more margin.”

Meanwhile, Sergio Perez will have the crowd on his side and a championship-winning car beneath him but the dream of becoming the first Mexican to win a home grand prix may remain just that.

In a season where Red Bull have won every race bar one, the odds favour dominant teammate Max Verstappen in the rarefied air of Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

“I don’t think Max is going to get the warmest reception in Mexico,” commented team boss Christian Horner, after Verstappen won to boos in Austin last Sunday. “But that’s water off a duck’s back.”

Perez, with “Never Give Up” prominent on a specially-designed helmet for the occasion, remains positive despite a run of poor form.

“Mexico is my most important weekend of the season and I can’t wait,” said the 33-year-old.

“We have made some very good steps with the car but didn’t get to fully show our progress due to taking some wrong directions with the set-up this past weekend. I am optimistic for this week.”

Verstappen would not be the three-time world champion he is, and winner of 50 grands prix by the age of 26, if he did not want to win every race and that does not change even with the championships done and dusted.

Another victory would put the Dutch driver equal fourth on the all-time list with France’s four-time world champion Alain Prost on 51. Verstappen has won four of the last five Mexican grands prix while Perez has been third in the last two.

Elsewhere, Audi has placed its plans to enter Formula One under review, German news outlet Spiegel reported on Thursday.

Citing sources at parent company Volkswagen, Spiegel said the plans were being “analysed in detail” in the wake of a management change and cost-cutting measures. REUTERS