Mercedes has taken the problem of starts very seriously. The many slow starts in the first races have pushed the Brackley team to work on multiple fronts, intervening both on the software side and on the clutch lever. This is confirmed directly by Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who points to the changes to the steering wheel as the most important, hoping that the problem is finally behind them.
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Mercedes’ work
Asked about the topic on the eve of the Canadian Grand Prix, the world championship leader revealed the work that Mercedes has carried out in recent weeks: “This weekend we have a different clutch lever, we have made a change in this area. In terms of software, they have definitely worked a lot, because in Miami we had some problems in this aspect at the start. They have certainly made changes, but the most important one is on the steering wheel. Let’s see if this weekend it will help us make decent starts.”
Fixing the standing start has become a priority for Mercedes. Despite the Silver Arrows having won all the races held so far and preparing to introduce an important update package, Brackley expects a progressive convergence among the teams, which will make it increasingly difficult to recover from a possible bad start. However, the Sprint format scheduled in Canada will not help to test the new features, having only the start practice after the first free practice session to get familiar with the new clutch.
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A problem not only with the turbo
At the beginning of the year, Mercedes’ slow starts were mainly attributed to the larger turbo compared to Ferrari’s, a design choice that gives the Maranello team an advantage at the start. To this difference were then added some procedural errors, such as insufficient battery recharge during the reconnaissance lap in Australia and some driver mistakes on other occasions. Antonelli had trained extensively on the simulator for starts ahead of Miami, where however Mercedes again struggled at the lights out. The work on the software and the changes to the clutch now aim to better manage the torque transmitted to the wheels to limit wheelspin, but only the track will tell if what has been done will be enough.
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