Glock’s Mercedes concern: “Takes a lot of time to solve this”

Mercedes endured a tough 2022 season following a major rules overhaul and made another poor start to the current campaign, with their W14 challenger still lagging well behind Red Bull’s RB19. 

Mercedes have made progress thanks to a recent revamp of their car yet despite several major upgrades, the Silver Arrows’ deficit to runaway leaders Red Bull remains significant. 

Bouncing issues which plagued their 2022 season reappeared last time out at the Belgian Grand Prix, and former driver-turned-pundit Glock reckons Mercedes are struggling to fully grasp F1’s new generation of cars.

“Mercedes seems to have the bouncing problem again,” he wrote in his latest Sky Germany column.  

“The current difficulty for Toto Wolff's team is to understand why the data coming from the wind tunnel does not correspond to that on the track in reality. 

"Mercedes used to be by far the best there. No matter what updates they brought that the wind tunnel spit out for them, they worked. 

“The Silver Arrows are currently struggling with the new generation of cars. It takes a lot of time to solve this. In Spa, however, it was a small step backwards.”

As for Max Verstappen’s dominance, Glock doesn’t see a way Red Bull’s rivals can stop the Dutchman. 

“You could say that Max Verstappen has to drive the whole weekend on hard tyres or without a front wing,” he told Sky Germany. “At the moment I don’t see anything happening there.”

Glock added: “He is very dominant in every respect and always finds new ways to set the bar higher. 

“You have to see the whole team and the co-operation between Max and the team. Always perfection at its finest, every pit stop fits. 

“It’s an achievement that you have to take your hat off to.”