Why nobody at Mercedes ‘could fathom’ what went wrong with ‘hopeless’ car during US Grand Prix

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The United States Grand Prix was the first time Formula 1 had raced for nearly a month, giving every team the perfect opportunity to prepare their cars for the final six races of the season during the autumn break.

Unlike the summer shutdown where teams were forced to leave their factories for two weeks, every manufacturer was hard at work after the race in Singapore to try and develop the updates that would improve their position in the Drivers’ Championship.

Haas were one of the stars of the show with the steps forward they took during the United States Grand Prix.

Both drivers scored points even if Kevin Magnussen didn’t want Haas’s updates after finishing ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in the Sprint Race.

Ferrari were also creative with the updates they brought to Austin and while they didn’t have to declare anything to the FIA, they certainly looked to have taken a clear step forward.

Journalist Mark Hughes was speaking on The Race Podcast about a team that didn’t fare as well as their rivals.

Mercedes have looked lost throughout the current era of Formula 1’s regulations.

From race to race, they go from looking miles off the pace to suddenly hooking everything up and challenging for victories.

Their performance can swing wildly between sessions at the same track and Hughes says that nobody within the team really knows what’s going wrong.

Mercedes left with ‘hopeless’ car during the United States Grand Prix

Talking about the performance of the W15 at the Circuit of the Americas, Hughes said: “Mercedes is just… they came here with a big, big upgrade.

“It remains just the most capricious thing. It was stunningly fast at times on Friday.

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

“And then for no reason that anyone on the team could fathom it was hopeless on Saturday.

“And it was just slightly higher track temperature, that’s about the only thing you could say was different and really they had a rubbish weekend really from there.

“George Russell drove a great race from the pit lane to sixth place. But it’s slim pickings for a team of this standard.”

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell both suffered the same fate during United States GP weekend

After a single practice session, the £2.9bn F1 team looked in great shape heading into Sprint Race qualifying.

George Russell qualified on the front row, while Lewis Hamilton would have been challenging for pole position were he not caught out by the yellow flag brought out by Franco Colapinto’s spin.

However, once the racing started, Mercedes’s performance dropped off, with both drivers suffering heavily from tyre degradation, but worryingly not the same tyres.

Hamilton suffered from a suspension fault in that race, before being eliminated in Q1 for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

READ MORE: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton’s life outside F1 from net worth to family

Russell then found himself in the barriers on the outside of turn 19, forcing him to start from the pit lane.

Martin Brundle believed Hamilton should have also started from the pit lane, but just three laps into the Grand Prix, he span out at the same point as Russell.

Brundle explained what was to blame for Hamilton’s DNF, but the news has only got worse for Mercedes ahead of the next race in Mexico City.

Russell destroyed the new updates on his car during qualifying and won’t have an equal car to his teammate at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Mercedes will want to draw a line under this season – and potentially this set of regulations – and move on as they look a step behind their closest rivals.