Mercedes has brought new parts for its W10 to help address its poor performance in high temperatures but Lewis Hamilton doubts they’ll have a significant effect.
The team has only failed to win one race this year, in Austria, where they suffered serious cooling problems due to the combination of high temperatures and above average altitude. Hamilton and team mate Valtteri Bottas had to back off for up to 400 metres per lap to ensure they reached the finish.Bottas revealed the team will attempt a solution to the problem tomorrow, when temperatures are forecast to reach 39C at the Hockenheimring.
“We know our car is maybe not the most efficient in hot conditions,” he said. “But we have some new bits for the cooling. Also a pretty nice new aero package which should give just general performance to the car.”
However Hamilton said the shortcoming with the car’s cooling cannot be solved by a simple fix.
“There’s not really much we can do,” he said. “This is a much bigger design issue than we have when it gets hot. So it’s not so easy to change it. We are working towards it but it’s very, very small steps and small increments which are not making a massive difference.”
Hamilton said the expected fall in temperatures on Saturday, and the likelihood of rain during the race, should help Mercedes.
“Hopefully this weekend will be OK in that sense. I’d imagine if it stays this hot we’re going to be in trouble. If the next race is hot we’re going to be in trouble, just on the edge, as we were in Austria. But fingers crossed the weather comes.”
Bottas is also keen to see the forecast rain arrive. “”We haven’t had any proper wet running this year so it would be nice to try,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind if it happens here.
“We definitely wish [the temperature’s] going to be less than tomorrow. But I’m sure these kind of extreme temperatures we will not be the only team struggling and like I said also with the new parts in terms of the cooling it should make our life easier.”
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Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
25th July 2019, 21:48
they are worried about their new PU, if it is as warm as austria I would love to see whether they risk it or not since this is their home race.
Mike Curran
26th July 2019, 3:04
You don’t really buy Hammy’s fear of overheating do you? It’s all a game for Mercedes. They know they can win every race without breaking a sweat.
Martin
26th July 2019, 9:21
Which is why they won in Austria without breaking a …. oh
It’s takes a special type of stupid to claim something that has already happened won’t happen right Mike?
foggy
26th July 2019, 9:22
Well they didn’t win in Austria for exactly this reason.
budchekov (@budchekov)
26th July 2019, 0:31
Reckon the car would look spectacular all white, and doesn’t the old Black/White Hot/Cool T-Shirt ‘theory’ apply?
Aapje (@aapje)
26th July 2019, 7:07
And if it rains it will be a wet T-shirt?
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
26th July 2019, 6:46
Well, I just cannot believe them. When Mercedes speaks how much they will struggle… I fail to believe them anymore.
Only reason why I would entertain belief is because they did not mention RedBull or Ferrari. But if they mentioned how competitive they look… then I know right away Mercedes win is coming.
wayne
26th July 2019, 8:05
struggle in relation to their own performance and expectations.