Mercedes may not have finished on the podium at the Monaco Grand Prix, but they did get some key information which could help them close the gap to Red Bull.
Max Verstappen won his fourth race of the season in the Principality as Red Bull continued their total dominance of the Championship. Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez has won the other two races, helping Red Bull take a 129-point lead in the Constructors' race.
Lewis Hamilton finished fourth last weekend, ahead of Mercedes team-mate George Russell, despite having upgrades on their W14 cars. The Silver Arrows are someway off their rivals – but they did gain some new information to investigate in Monaco.
Hamilton and Perez both crashed qualifying, with both cars having to be airlifted away from the circuit. The crane allowed a view of the bottom of the dominant Red Bull car, with fans noticing a significant difference in the floor of the RB19.
Mercedes stationed their own photographer at that section of the circuit, which allowed them to get some key information. Red Bull’s construction secrets are now out in the open and Mercedes’ technical director James Allison confirmed they would investigate the findings.
“Well, certainly it always attracts a lot of interest,” Allison said when asked what they can learn when cars are held aloft. “There’s a lot of scurrying around with team cameramen, not just to rely on the TV pictures which are low resolution and not good enough grade.
“Photographers are positioned at strategic parts of the track where there’s a likelihood that the cranes will be brought into play, and they’re there clicking away furiously and then our inbox is subsequently filled with the high-res images of other cars.
“Sadly, our own car had its trip into the heavens this weekend. There’ll be plenty of photos in our competitors’ inboxes from that, but yes, we got a nice clutch of Red Bull imagery, and that’s always a good thing for our aerodynamicists to pore over and see if we can pick out details that will be of interest to us in our ongoing test programme.”
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin added: "With these regulations, the most important bit is the bit you don’t normally get to see. So the teams will be all over those kinds of photographs. Monaco is a good opportunity to get that kind of shot."
Speaking about the upgrades on the new W14 car, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said: “We really need to be careful, we need to go to Barcelona and collect more data. It’s a new baseline.
“I don’t expect us to be clearing Aston Martin and Ferrari [there]. It is more about understanding what does this car do now, how to set it up and we are really good at grinding away.”
