It’s no secret to anyone in Formula 1 that Mercedes simply haven’t got to grips with this generation of ground-effect cars.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have been left frustrated by a Mercedes car that hasn’t been able to compete with the likes of Red Bull for years.
A report from the German outlet Auto Bild has explained how Toto Wolff’s outfit are trying to solve these issues.
F1 teams aren’t allowed to test this season’s or last season’s cars outside of official practice sessions.
It means Mercedes are using the 2022 car to try and grasp what’s going wrong, alongside testing young driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
The Italian has been allowed to go as fast as he can in a Formula 1 car to get up to speed with the machinery ahead of a potential move to Williams.
However, Mercedes have been using test driver Mick Schumacher to try and understand their problems with the Pirelli tyres.
After scoring 12 points in his Formula 1 career thus far, Schumacher is well versed in driving the 2022 F1 car as it’s the last season he spent in the sport before being dropped by Haas.
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Mercedes using Mick Schumacher to try and solve Pirelli tyre issues
The Miami Grand Prix once again highlighted that Mercedes still don’t fully understand what’s going wrong with their cars.
George Russell admitted to being ‘nowhere’ near the pace of Lewis Hamilton despite being in identical cars.
He also said that the improvement shown by McLaren in Miami with their latest upgrade package highlighted the ‘painful’ reality the team are dealing with right now.
Both Mercedes drivers missed out on Q3 for the Sprint Race after being forced to use the medium tyre in Q2.
They secured a place on the fourth row of the grid for the main Grand Prix and Hamilton was hailed for managing to bring his car home in 6 – an accolade that a few years ago would not have been celebrated by anyone within the team.
With testing capacities very limited, Mercedes have been using Mick Schumacher to try and work out what’s going on with the Pirelli tyres.
The German is trying to help the team solve their problems while also hoping to convince some other teams on the grid that he’s deserving of a race seat in 2025.
Mick Schumacher working hard behind the scenes in a bid to make F1 return
The report from Auto Bild has suggested that Schumacher wasn’t asked to try and set the fastest times possible at Silverstone in the 2022 Mercedes.
Instead, Schumacher was running with a high fuel load and hard tyres to help Mercedes get to the bottom of their ‘biggest problem’ – working optimally with the Pirelli tyres.
Mercedes can’t get their car to run at the correct temperature to get the optimum performance out of them.
While the times that Schumacher or Antonelli produced weren’t made public, Schumacher drove for 350 kilometres, which is longer than a Formula 1 race.
The engineers are understood to have been ‘very satisfied’ with Schumacher’s performance but only time will tell if the data he gathered can help Mercedes finally solve their Pirelli issues.
Could Mick Schumacher be on the Formula 1 grid in 2025?
There are a few potential options in the paddock for Mick Schumacher if he has a successful campaign in the World Endurance Championship.
He’s racing for Alpine in WEC and Renault CEO Luca de Meo is ‘positive’ about the idea of bringing him in.
Alpine team principal Bruno Famin has already suggested that he’s ‘ready to react’ should both of his current drivers – Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly – decide to leave at the end of their current contracts.
Ralf Schumacher has also suggested he wants Audi to have an all-German line-up when they enter F1 in 2026 and that would give his nephew Mick a good chance of joining Nico Hulkenberg.
He’s admitted he’s desperate to be back in Formula 1, although his performances for Haas haven’t done a huge amount to convince other teams that he’s worth another shot.
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