Mercedes issue they ‘couldn’t control’ in Singapore affected them all year

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Mercedes has struggled to replicate its race-winning form before the summer break in recent races and now it has emerged they are struggling from an issue that has affected them all year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell struggled to contain their tyre temperatures throughout the Singapore and Azerbaijan Grands Prix, which ultimately impacted their chances of finishing on the podium.

Russell lucked into a late podium in Baku when both Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz crashed on the penultimate lap, while Hamilton struggled on both the medium and soft tyres and only just finished inside the top 10.

Despite qualifying on the second row in Singapore, a poor tyre strategy led to Hamilton finishing in sixth place having been leapfrogged by Russell, Charles Leclerc, and Oscar Piastri.

After criticising the team during the race, Hamilton would later clarify his position of having agreed to the ‘risky’ strategy prior to the beginning of the race.

Discussing their downturn in form at recent races, James Allison told AMuS that the team has been suffering from a ‘weakness’ throughout the year.

James Allison says ‘weakness’ in W15 has impacted Mercedes throughout the year

Mercedes entered the summer break with three wins between Hamilton and Russell, but things began to take a downturn at Zandvoort.

Russell blamed the car setup while Hamilton was limited due to a grid penalty, but at the following race in Monza they still struggled to break into the top three.

While Mercedes has produced a car that is fast over one lap, this pace is impacting them during the races according to Allison.

“We found a very good setup for a lap, which did us no favours in the race,” said Allison.

“A weakness became visible again, which has been impacting us all year round. We couldn’t control the temperatures of the rear tyres.”

Mercedes planning ‘substantial’ final upgrade for US GP

Mercedes has spent the last few races experimenting with its floor, reverting to the older specification in Baku in a bid to understand their performance fluctuations between Spa, Zandvoort and Monza.

With the big gap between Singapore and the US Grands Prix, teams have ample time to analyse data and implement changes.

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Mercedes plans to debut their final upgrades on the W15 at the Circuit of the Americas, which Allison says will be ‘substantial’ for them.

Allison also confirmed they will be trying to get to the bottom of their overheating problems, which have impacted them in the last few races.