Mercedes, mainly in the hands of George Russell, established themselves as one of the most consistent teams in the first quarter of the season.
The Brackley squad managed to correct the inconsistencies of its previous cars with a W16 that, prior to Imola, performed well in all areas.
Partly because of this, the team’s poor performance in Imola was something of a surprise.
Upgrades to the W16 failed to deliver, pushing the German constructor into the midfield battle with Williams and Aston Martin.
Whilst dismissing the effectiveness of updates after one race weekend would be premature (especially after Russell’s P3 in qualifying), there is some concern for Mercedes.
Mercedes initially off the pace in Monaco
There were a few red flags across FP1 and FP2 in Monaco, with incidents slightly reducing the team’s time on track.
Still, there was enough uninterrupted running to create a rough image of the pecking order.
Mercedes certainly weren’t flattered in the first sessions of the weekend. Russell and Antonelli could only manage Friday practice in 12th and 9th respectively.
Owing to the hyper-competitive nature of the 2025 grid, especially on low fuel, the W16 is only a few tenths away from flying up the order.
Still, there can be no denying that Mercedes are slightly less comfortable in Monte Carlo than in the opening rounds.
Perhaps this should not be a surprise, given the Silver Arrows often struggled at Monaco even in their dominant years.
Red flags, yellow flags and traffic will further complicate life for Mercedes in what should be the most hectic qualifying of the year.
Because of this, making improvements in FP3 later today is essential.
For now, it is unclear whether set-up, Monaco’s low-speed characteristics, or underperforming updates are currently the team’s biggest limiting factor.
Whichever factor is most prevalent, Mercedes must rectify their weaknesses.
W16 Verdict after Friday Practice
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director, discussed the team’s difficulties so far:
“Overall, the car balance wasn’t in the place that the drivers need it to extract a strong lap time though.
“That balance was costing us across the whole speed range but particularly in the slow speed.
“That is something that we will be working hard to analyse overnight
“Both here in Monaco, and back in the simulator at Lauda Drive.
“We’ve already got some good areas of focus and are hopeful we can have an improved showing tomorrow.”
Something that could benefit Mercedes, and any other teams lacking pace, is the new mandatory two-stop rule in Monaco.
Strategy could play a significant role on Sunday, especially in the event of a Safety Car or other incident:
“The mandatory two-stop regulation for this year, coupled with the use of the C6 tyre compound, will make things interesting on Sunday.
“Our main goal though is to be in a good place pace wise, both on the single lap and long run.
“That will help unlock our race come the Grand Prix and our focus now is to do that and get both our cars higher up in the time sheets tomorrow.”
Main photo: LAT Images (via Mercedes media gallery)
