The first training sessions on the track in Jeddah showed that Mercedes is somewhat inferior to Ferrari and Red Bull, although in the second session it was already less noticeable. But at high speeds, the W13 car is still subject to quite a lot of buildup, which was clearly visible during the training broadcast.
Lewis Hamilton (5th): “Quite a normal day, but the problems are the same as in the previous stage, they still affect, but we are trying to solve them.
In the high-speed corners of this track, the difficulties are more pronounced, but the grip is good, and we just need to improve on the straights. In the evening, we will have to work hard and analyze the information collected today in order to prepare as best as possible for tomorrow’s qualification.
George Russell (6th): “It’s great to be back on this fast circuit which is a delight to all riders, but we’re still running into the same problems we had last weekend in Bahrain.
We know that we have to work hard to close the gap with Red Bull and Ferrari. We will continue to fight this weekend, we will try to do our best in qualifying and earn as many points as possible in the race.
Anything can happen on a circuit like this, so it’s important to keep up with the leaders to take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself.”
Andrew Shovlin, Chief Engineer: “We conducted a series of new experiments, trying to deal with the problem of car sway on this track, and in some cases it only intensified, but something still helped. However, we still do not have a solution that would allow it to be completely eliminated.
By tomorrow, we will be able to slightly reduce its influence, since in a number of turns it affects and leads to loss of time. But the balance of the car is already better than it was in Bahrain, and if we talk about the degradation of rubber, then we are quite satisfied with what we saw today.
We still have to keep working on speed on one fast lap, but for that we have one more workout on Saturday. In general, the day went more or less normally, but in order to catch up with Red Bull or Ferrari, there is still a lot of work to be done.