Sky Sports F1 pundit Naomi Schiff has shared what Mercedes have been doing behind-the-scenes to try and counteract their Australian Grand Prix struggles.
George Russell qualified seventh for the race in Melbourne, with Lewis Hamilton 11th.
That’s despite the work that has gone on at the factory, as Schiff revealed in Sky’s post-qualifying show.
The Silver Arrows had significant work to overdo overnight after a poor showing in practice.
Russell was nearly seven tenths off the pace in FP2, while Hamilton was the second-slowest runner in the field.
It was a more promising morning on Saturday as they placed fourth and fifth and Hamilton got within a tenth of Charles Leclerc’s benchmark.
However, that pace evaporated when it mattered as the seven-time world champion failed to reach the top 10 shoot-out.
Russell, meanwhile only narrowly out-qualified the RB of Yuki Tsunoda and finished some eight tenths adrift of Max Verstappen’s pole time.
Naomi Schiff lifts lid on Mercedes simulator work
Schiff says that her Sky colleague Anthony Davidson had been logging the miles on the simulator in the hope of making a breakthrough.
However, the team wasn’t able to discover a solution that worked for ‘both sides of the garage’.
She said: “We know Ant has been in the simulator all day yesterday to try and find the perfect set-up.
“But between the two drivers, it doesn’t seem like they’ve found something that really works on both sides of the garage.”
Hamilton and Russell continue to face balance issues
Mercedes made changes for this race after investigating fundamental design flaws with their car off the back of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Russell finished sixth in that race, with Hamilton coming home ninth.
They decided to experiment by reverting back to the floor they had used in pre-season testing.
The W15 car is particularly weak in high-speed corners, having been the second-slowest through the quickest sections in Jeddah last time out.
But it continued to look unbalanced during Friday’s running, with Sky’s Martin Brundle noting that it appeared the ‘most difficult’ to drive through the first couple of corners.
Mercedes have made their worst start to a season since 2012 and currently sit fourth in the constructors’ standings behind Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren.
The post 'All day yesterday': Naomi Schiff shares what Mercedes are doing in simulator amid Australian GP woes appeared first on F1 Oversteer.