Mercedes has outlined the “best case scenario” for the upcoming Mexican GP, and said that they need a repeat of their Austin heroics.
The defending champions almost won at the US GP, but a late slice of luck for their rivals meant they had to settle for second place. The high altitude of the circuit in Mexico will not favour their car, and as such, the race is all about damage control.
Mercedes outlined the “best case scenario” for the Mexican GP, and revealed that they will be working hard to iron out any weaknesses.
Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin told Racingnews365.com, “For us, if we can take the race to them like we did (at Austin), that’s probably the best case scenario that we’re going to envisage.
“There’s a lot to do, it’s such a different circuit and it’s such a different environment for the power unit to operate in.
“There haven’t been many circuits where we’ve been far off the pace. We’ve struggled in Monaco, we were struggling in Baku (and) we struggled a bit in that second (race in) Austria. But there are more of them where we can challenge them, and we can challenge for poles.
“We know where we’ve struggled there in the past, we know what we need to be working on in the next week or so, and that’s what we’ll get stuck into,” he concluded.
Uphill battle
Mercedes had to settle for P2 and P6 at the US GP, which meant they conceded more ground to their rivals. Now they have to deal with the high altitude in Mexico, a track that favours said rivals.
However, if F1 has taught us anything, it’s that surprises and upsets are as common as street lights. A twelve-point deficit is hardly safe, and Mercedes will be looking to claw into and overcome it in these five races.
Read more: Red Bull backs down from protesting against Mercedes – “There is no reason to do it”