Marc Priestley explains why Mercedes were ‘lost’ in the Dutch Grand Prix

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Mercedes suffered a disappointing comeback after the summer break in the Dutch Grand Prix, when both their drivers failed to finish inside the top five.

Lewis Hamilton was left climbing his way through the field when he suffered an early exit in Q2 and then was handed a grid penalty for impeding Sergio Perez, which dropped him down to P17 on the grid.

After making his way past cars at the start of the race, Hamilton climbed up the order and finished in P8 behind teammate George Russell, who slipped back to P7 after starting from P4 on the grid.

It was the first time neither Mercedes driver finished in the top five since the start of the season, having won three of the four races before the summer break.

Part of why they struggled in the Dutch GP may be down to a key element of their race according to Marc Priestley, when discussing why they seemed ‘lost’ on his YouTube channel.

Why Mercedes was ‘lost’ in Dutch Grand Prix

While Hamilton was able to pass slower cars in the midfield, Russell was forced to do a two-stop strategy because of Mercedes’ poor tyre degradation in the race.

Priestley believes the team his issues in one area compared to their rivals, with both drivers having struggled to reach an optimum car setup on Friday.

“Mercedes were a bit lost as to why they were so terrible in the race. It all comes down to the narrow setup window in which they get their tyres to operate,” said Priestley.

“Never underestimate just how powerful having your temperatures in that correct window is for the performance of an F1 car. I can be the difference between it working and it not, and in a tight field that can push you up and down the field.”

Mercedes set for more struggles at Monza

One of the main problems of the W15 is the tyres overheating in hot conditions and falling out of the optimum temperature range.

It has been a characteristic of their car since the start of the season, with races like Spain, Austria and Hungary proving to be more challenging than cooler races such as the British Grand Prix.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Mercedes AMG F1 Team from team principal to lineage

This could become a problem for the Silver Arrows at the upcoming Italian GP because of an important change made to the track.

Monza has undergone a resurface since F1 visited last year, with the darker tarmac likely to retain more heat compared to the older and more grey surface.

Pirelli sent out a briefing note to media this week which claimed that track temperatures could reach up to “highs over 50°C” which will impact tyre performance and the operating temperature range.

Given the long straights at Monza, the tyres usually cool down for the drivers so it might be something they can manage with the right setup.