This comes from the belief shared by Wolff, Hamilton, and George Russell that the current Mercedes car is quite sensitive to how it’s set up. They all feel that while the car is strong, getting the most out of it is tough.
Hamilton talked about the W15 car’s performance being ‘narrow’
Hamilton mentioned that he’s feeling surprisingly good, despite his worst-ever start to a season in terms of results. His race in Australia ended early due to an engine failure.
During a practice session where Hamilton and Mercedes were doing well, they suddenly fell behind during qualifying.
Wolff admitted that the W15 car changed drastically from one session to the next, even though the track conditions didn’t change much.
Wolff said Hamilton was happy with the car after the practice session but found it undriveable during qualifying. The track temperature only changed by five degrees, which is not much.
When asked about the sudden change, Wolff said they’re not sure. The team has many people working on the cars, but they haven’t figured it out yet because the window for the car’s best performance is very narrow. They suspect factors like wind might play a role, but they haven’t pinpointed the exact issue yet.
