Mercedes must unleash full potential of their ‘excellent’ car: Martin Brundle

• Mercedes has not been able to unleash its full potential.
• Red Bulls are leading in two tournaments.
• Leclerc is currently in thrid place.

Martin Brundle expresses amazement that Mercedes cannot unleash the potential of their “excellent” car and sees little likelihood that rival teams will vote to amend the regulations in their favor.

Since the introduction of new regulations at the beginning of the 2022 Formula 1 season, the new Mercedes W13 has been particularly susceptible to porpoising and bouncing troubles.

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“The teams that have got it sorted are clearly saying that’s Mercedes’ problem and it’s not Formula 1’s problem,” Brundle told Sky Sports News.

“There’s no doubt about it, it looks particularly uncomfortable.

“Of course, [Mercedes] can fix it by raising the car but then they lose a huge amount of performance.

“So, they need to get the car low, stiff on the suspension and stiff on the side wall of the new tyres as well, and they’ve had to sacrifice comfort for performance.

“What’s surprising, really, is that Mercedes just can’t seem to get a handle on what looks like, actually, quite an excellent car, if they could just unlock it.”

Red Bull are in first place in both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships, and team principal Christian Horner stated he would not vote for a rule change.

He argued: “If it was something that was affecting everybody, then yes, [the regulations should change] on the grounds of safety, but you can see that some cars are absolutely fine, and others are struggling.

“Therefore, I think the emphasis is on the team to sort it out as opposed to changing the regulations. It’s something that they’re struggling with, it’s not something that our drivers are complaining about.

“I think it would be unfair if there was a change just because they’ve missed the target.”

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Teams voted against a plan to minimize porpoising before the season, and Brundle sees little likelihood of a rule change today.

“Generally, we had porpoising back in the 80s. When you have these ground effect cars, it’s always been in issue. It is still in sports car racing; I was at Les Mans and in the prototypes there they have porpoising and ground effect issues in terms of bouncing. It needs managing.

“To ask the other teams to change the regulations to help Mercedes is a bit like asking a turkey to vote for Christmas.

“I’m not underplaying what George Russell and Lewis Hamilton are going through, because it does look particularly painful.

“And, the Ferrari drivers just at the crucial breaking points that looks plain tricky to me, I don’t know how they go into the corners frankly.”

The 24-year-old is now third in the standings behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Aston Martin’s Mark Brundle.

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“We’re into the thick of a 22-race season, races are coming relentlessly at us. If you’ve got one big issue, you go and fix it, but there are various gremlins that Ferrari are having.

“Charles Leclerc must be beside himself. He could have had four glorious victories; he’s sticking the car on pole position, driving beautifully and then this kind of thing [engine failure] is happening to him just way too much.

“Reliability is costing him heavily now, a chance at becoming world champion. Strategy cost him in Monaco of a chance of a glorious victory in his hometown.

“He loves Ferrari and Ferrari love him, in a way that, the last time I saw something like that was between Michael Schumacher and the Ferrari team.

“There’s an awful lot of love to burn through there but right now, Leclerc must be feeling as bruised as Lewis’ back.”