Timo Glock outlines the ‘most important’ thing Mercedes must do to avoid returning to ‘normality’ in Qatar

On By Pranco

Mercedes were the unlikely winners of the Las Vegas Grand Prix as George Russell secured the team’s fourth win of the season in dominant fashion.

The Briton took pole position on Saturday and led the race to take his second win of the year. Teammate Lewis Hamilton could only finish 10th in qualifying, but he used the W15’s pace to move up to second, securing Mercedes‘first one-two since the Sao Paulo Grand Prix in 2022.

Mercedes showed great performances all weekend in Las Vegas. Martin Brundle had to ‘take a step back’ after seeing what Hamilton did in practice, he showed a lot of confidence in the car to beat both FP1 and FP2.

This was certainly unusual to see – not just from Hamilton, but from Mercedes in general. The Silver Arrows have struggled to be competitive in the ground effect era and their 2024 campaign has been hampered by inconsistencies.

The Brackley-based team has struggled to compete with the likes of Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari for most of the season. But Mercedes has produced some brilliant moments in 2024 Grand Prix of Las Vegas be one of them.

George Russell of Great Britain driving the (63) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W15 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas in Las Vegas Stri...
Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images

Timo Glock says Mercedes ‘must understand’ why they were dominant in Las Vegas to avoid ‘normality’ resuming in Qatar

But the result came out of nowhere as it was the team’s first win since Hamilton took victory in the Belgian Grand Prix and Mercedes’ first double podium of the season.

The cold temperatures in Las Vegas will be a sharp contrast to the next race in Qatar, where Mercedes could return to ‘normality’ and struggle to keep up with their rivals, according to Timo Glock.

  • Unpleasant

    • 1st practice

    • 1st sprint shootout

    • 2nd sprint shootout

    • 3rd sprint shootout

    • Sprint

    • 1st qualification

    • 2nd qualification

    • 3rd qualification

    • Race

For the German, the Silver Arrows need to ‘understand’ why they suddenly found performance in Las Vegas, so they can carry that into the final two races and for the 2025 season – the last year under the current technical regulations.

Glock said via Formel1.de: “Mercedes must understand why they were so dominant here. I think that’s the key and they’ll probably wish it was cold in Qatar too, but unfortunately that won’t be the case.

“So I think we will get back to some normality at Mercedes, but basically I think they have collected enough data to now understand why the car works on some circuits and in certain conditions and not on others. “T.”

George Russell has the upper hand over Lewis Hamilton in 2024

As the 2024 season enters the final two races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, Hamilton has had a difficult farewell campaign at Mercedes.

The seven-time champion leaves for Ferrari in 2025 and has been very vocal about his frustrations with the inconsistent nature of his Mercedes machine in the ground effect era, especially this season.

Teammate Russell was ‘stronger’ than Hamilton in qualifying as he leads the 39-year-old 16-6 in the Mercedes battle and 14-8 in the races.

His dominance in Las Vegas has led to that many in the paddock consider Russell to be F1’s most underrated driverwith Mercedes putting their faith in the Brit to lead them forward after Hamilton heads to Maranello.

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