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F1 Azerbaijan GP the Touchstone to Determine if Mercedes Have a ‘Winning Car’

Published 06/10/2022, 8:57 AM EDT

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The Mercedes W13 has come a long way since the start of the season, or has it? The Brackley-based team has struggled with all types of bouncing issues throughout the season so far. Except at the Spanish Grand Prix, where the W13 of Hamilton was as fast as the Red Bull. Now Mercedes needs to figure out the challenge at Baku and Montreal before they go to Silverstone.

However, now with each passing race and the pressure mounting, Baku will be a touchstone for the team. Mercedes, among other teams, brought a host of upgrades to Barcelona, which worked for the team. Surprisingly, though, the old bouncing issue was back in Monte Carlo, which resulted in another poor performance. There’s plenty of potential in the W13, it just needs to be unlocked with the eradication of the porpoising.

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The Silver Arrows have won the constructors’ championship eight consecutive times, but by the looks of it, there won’t be a nine. As agreed by experts like Aston Martin’s Andy Green and McLaren’s James Key, “On paper, the Mercedes is a winning car. It has huge potential. But you also have to make it work on the track.” (Translated by Google).

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Mercedes’ daring approach in Barcelona was the first positive learning curve in the entire season. A Mercedes engineer said, “For us, the season only started in Barcelona.”

via Reuters

However, the improvements in Barcelona were momentary, as the changes in the car did not work on the next track at the Monaco GP. The results of the Azerbaijan GP will work as a touchstone for the Mercedes W13 and pave the way for the races to come. And if the step isn’t in a positive direction, Mercedes’ chances of winning a title would realistically will be none.

Mercedes pilot Lewis Hamilton hoping for a competitive British Grand Prix

The seven-time world champion’s home Grand Prix is one of his favorite. Hamilton has won the British Grand Prix a record eight times out of the fifteen he’s started. With Mercedes W13 still bouncing, as seen in Monaco, Hamilton is hoping for the issue to be resolved before Silverstone!

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via Reuters

“Every race is an opportunity for us to test something new, so we have something every weekend,” said Hamilton.

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“But I mean, Silverstone is a while away. Was it, two more races away? So I’m really, really hoping and praying by then at least we’ve got it under control, but I really don’t know whether we will or not. I’m hopeful,” added the Mercedes man.

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The results of Baku are extremely crucial for Mercedes as they try to unlock the W13’s potential.

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Written by:

Mahim Suhalka

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Mahim Suhalka is an F1 Author at EssentiallySports. This Sports Management post-graduate is an ardent supporter of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team and their lead driver, Lewis Hamilton. The fact that Lewis dominated one of the most expensive sports in the world for all these years, despite his humble beginnings, has been a huge inspiration for Mahim and has made him a tenured fan of the competitive sport itself.
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Edited by:

Ranvijay Singh