Mercedes insists there are no problems with Austin update, despite Hamilton’s claims

Mercedes has denied there is a “fundamental” problem with the Formula One revamp at Austin and plans to stick to it at this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.

The German manufacturer introduced a host of aerodynamic changes to its W15 at the US Grand Prix but endured a difficult weekend with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton struggling with the car’s performance.

After both suffered costly, nearly identical spins at Turn 19 – Russell crashed out in qualifying and Hamilton dropped out of the race – there was speculation that car developments may have caused some aerodynamic instability.

Hamilton himself believed the updates could be to blame for the incidents, as he said the team needed to reconsider whether to stick with them for this weekend’s race in Mexico.

But looking back on the weekend, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said the problems encountered were not related to the upgrade, but rather related to the car’s handling on the bumpy track.

“I don’t think we have a fundamental question about modernization,” he said. “I think it’s more of an interaction between aerodynamics and mechanics.

“So we are going to continue to modernize. There’s no point in giving it up because you have a lot of lap time left.

“However, on the other hand, you need to be very open-minded. George rode the July update (in the race) because we didn’t have the (new) floor and it seemed pretty competitive.”

George Russell, Mercedes W15

Photo: Andreas Beil

While Mercedes plans to continue its upgrades, the team is still short on spare parts following Russell’s crash in qualifying.

Since only one of the new floors survived the incident, the team appears to be planning to split up the packages in Mexico.

“Obviously we will miss the floor, which will have to be returned to the UK and then refurbished for Brazil,” Wolf added. “So we’ll use a spare specification.

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“As for Lewis, normally he would have all the roles, but I’m not 100% sure he’s interested in that. So we’re going to figure out how we want to spend this weekend.”

Wolff believes the main thing Mercedes needs to learn from what happened in Austin is why it was fast on Friday, when Hamilton was fast enough to challenge for pole in the sprint and then faded for the rest of the weekend -enda.

“We need to understand why we have the fastest car on Friday before the Franco Colapinto (yellow flag) situation,” Wolff said.

“Lewis was four tenths ahead and would have been the fastest.

“Then on Saturday everything changes. During the sprint race our suspension broke. This is one explanation.

Marshals remove Lewis Hamilton’s car, Mercedes F1 W15

Photo: Sam Bagnall/Motorsport Images

“We fixed it in qualifying, but nothing else worked and we found it difficult to gain momentum.

“Then in the race there was an incident (with Hamilton) in that corner that came out of nowhere.

“He didn’t press at all. And where I am now is 100% not Lewis’s fault.”

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