‘No huge breakthroughs’ - Why Mercedes remain reserved despite upturn

After enduring a lacklustre start to 2023 in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, Mercedes enjoyed their strongest competitive showing in Melbourne. 

Lewis Hamilton converted his second row grid slot into Mercedes’ first podium finish of the season in runner-up spot behind his great rival Max Verstappen, while teammate George Russell retired with engine trouble after qualifying an impressive P2 and leading the race early on. 

The result has left Mercedes believing they are now “starting to get on terms” with rivals Ferrari and Aston Martin, while closing the gap slightly to Red Bull. 

“Overall, a sense of quiet satisfaction that we have moved the car forward that, from a performance point of view, we probably got as much as it is able to give right now,” Mercedes chief technical officer James Allison said in the team’s usual post-race debrief video.

“We didn’t have huge breakthroughs, but we moved forward a little bit. We put a small amount on the leaders Red Bull, and we are starting to get on terms with, and maybe just nose a whisker in front of, the Ferraris and the Aston Martins.”

But Allison admitted Mercedes are unsure whether their performance in Melbourne was track specific, or a genuine reflection of the progress the team has made. 

“Was it expected? Broadly, yes, because actually the performance level in Australia was not markedly different to that in the other two tracks so far this year,” Allison continued. 

“Different, yes, to Red Bull, but not a completely different animal compared to the rest of the field.

“I think probably the biggest shift in Australia was actually that Red Bull were a little bit more off-form in qualifying compared to the rest of the grid and that sort of closed up the grid. 

“But if you look at the relative pace of our car to the Ferrari, our car to the Aston Martin, it’s been close-ish all year. Yes, we’re a little bit on the better side, but it wasn’t seismic.

“We expected to be in the fight with Ferrari and Aston Martin and it’s pleasing just have our noses in front. But we did expect to be there. How much of of the overall good result of the weekend was track-specific and how much came from things we did, I guess time will tell.

“We’ll go to some more very different tracks in the next few weeks and we’ll see whether this was the sort of initial bellwether of a general uptick in our in our performance, which we hope, or whether it was related to the quite unusual track conditions that we saw this weekend in Melbourne.”