Italian GP 2013: Team review – Mercedes

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes drives during the Italian GP

If Belgian GP was a decent finish for the Mercedes team, Monza wasn’t the best. With their lead driver Lewis Hamilton having a miserable outing in qualifying , the British team was left thinking what went wrong at Monza after the race.

Nico Rosberg, though, was better of the two Mercedes and managed to get sixth place while his teammate Hamilton, after jumping through the midfield, finished ninth.

Qualifying

Mercedes Team Principal Ross Brawn has a lot on his mind

Hamilton’s qualifying had been impeccable with four pole positions in as many races.

While the expectations were high at Monza, the Brit hugely disappointed with his 12th place on the grid. He had Adrian Sutil of Force India to blame for the blunder somewhat, who appeared to have impeded Hamilton at the Parabolica whilst on his timed lap.

Sutil was penalised for his unsporting blocking but that didn’t help Hamilton. It was for the first time in 67 races and since 2010 that Hamilton had failed to reach Q3. Nico Rosberg was more steady than his teammate and managed to keep his car in 6th (despite a hydraulics problem in FP3 and understeer in qualifying).

Race Day

One of the teams who were left hoping for rain to see a change in their fortunes, Mercedes was left in the dry as the Red-Bulls charged ahead and there wasn’t much that both their drivers could do to reach for a top 5 finish.

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton has virtually lost his chance of catching Sebastian Vettel

While the race start was comparatively smooth for Hamilton, a slow puncture around lap 12 ensured he had to pit twice in the race, making it even more difficult to move up the grid.

A failed radio in the initial lap also didn’t help as the team got ready for a pit-stop, but with no contact from the pit lane, Hamilton remained to his tyre problem.

But Hamilton, despite the problems, fought hard in the Mercedes, overtaking Kimi Raikkonen in Lotus-Renault and the two McLaren-Mercedes of Jenson Button and Sergio Perez, and almost passed Romain Grosjean in the second Lotus during the last lap for a 9th place finish.

That result virtually ended Hamilton’s chances of catching Sebastian Vettel for the driver’s title, with the race outcome taking the German’s lead to 81 points and looks like a mountain to climb for the 2008 Champion with just seven races left in the season.

Nico Rosberg

Nico Rosberg

Nico Rosberg got a better run than his teammate despite problems during practice and qualifying.

He kept his cool in the first corner and drove a steady race on a one pit-stop strategy. He tried hard to overtake Nico Hulkenberg in the Sauber-Ferrari but never really had an opportunity to pass his fellow countryman despite being in a faster car.

He had a healthy cushion over Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo, and that saw him take the Chequered Flag in the 6th place.

With the European leg coming to an end and the Asian tour next on the calendar, Mercedes can only hope that they will be able to change their fortunes around.

But the fact remains that Vettel dominated all four races in Singapore, Japan, China and India, and it won’t be a walk in the park for Mercedes or any other team to catch his Red-Bull.