Mercedes 'flatter' themselves as ex-F1 star questions Lewis Hamilton improvement

08 June 2023 , 17:21

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Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished on the podium in Barcelona (Image: Getty Images)

Former Formula 1 racer Jolyon Palmer is firmly not on board the Mercedes hype train as he believes there were several factors which "flattered" their Spanish Grand Prix result.

The Silver Arrows have endured another tough start to a season. But their fortunes improved in Barcelona with their first double podium of the year and only their fourth since 2021.

That is a significant change of fortunes for a team which, for many years, would consider any outcome which didn't have both their drivers in the top three as a poor result.

But Lewis Hamilton was thrilled with the feel of his car as new upgrades to the W14 seemed to work wonders. And George Russell also scored his best result of the season so far as Mercedes comfortably had the second quickest car on track.

Naturally, the result has sparked talk that the Silver Arrows are closing in on runaway leaders Red Bull. While it is true they now occupy second place in the constructors' championship, there is clearly still some way to go before they are competing for regular race wins.

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And Palmer, who raced for Renault 35 times across the 2016 and 2017 seasons, is not convinced that the Barcelona result means Mercedes are suddenly the second best team on the grid. "Mercedes were talk of the race securing their double podium," he wrote in his F1 column.

"They have significant upgrades on the car and on the face of it, it looks like they are yielding immediate results. However this has always been a strong Mercedes circuit. Last year, George Russell was fighting for the lead and ended up third, while Lewis Hamilton put in an eyebrow-raising performance from the back of the field.

Jolyon Palmer thinks Mercedes' result in Barcelona made them look more competitive than might be the case overall (PA)

"It's more likely that, whilst the upgrades worked, the track characteristics also enhanced their performance. Canada in a couple of weeks' time might be a more interesting comparison, as it's more akin to the street circuits we've had thus far. Mercedes were also flattered by their rivals under-performing.

" Aston Martin were subdued in Spain, partly thanks to Fernando Alonso's high speed run through the gravel which affected his qualifying, but also the nature of the tyre energy didn't help them. [Sergio] Perez looked out of sorts all weekend and opened the door for others to take a podium they shouldn't have had by early-season form.

"And then there's Ferrari, a team that also had upgrades on this weekend but seemed to go backwards rapidly in the hands of [Carlos] Sainz and forwards slowly in the hands of [Charles] Leclerc. Ferrari say this upgrade was just a small steer ahead of a further development push and their struggles lay more in understanding the tyres."

While Palmer described the Barcelona result as an "outlier", he offered some more hope to Mercedes about next month's British Grand Prix. He added: "Silverstone is the next closest circuit to Barcelona coming up, with a few more races of fine tuning and additional upgrades to come first – could that be the first real chance for Mercedes to challenge Red Bull's domination?"

Daniel Moxon