Mercedes-AMG has suffered a setback at the Lausitzring after a stellar start to the season with Maro Engel’s victory in Spielberg and four further podium finishes during the first two weekends in Zandvoort. Although the Lausitzring actually suits the car, the brand could not manage better than sixth place via runner-up Lucas Auer, despite a temporary double lead on Saturday.
“We had good starting positions in qualifying on Saturday, but we didn’t pick up the points in the race that we could have,” says Thomas Jager, who acts as Sporting Director for the DTM at Mercedes-AMG, referring to grid positions three to five for Auer, Jules Gounon, and Engel.
He cites the unfortunate Full-Course-Yellow phase as one reason; additionally, the wet tire the trio started on only proved to be the perfect choice at the very beginning. For the disappointment on Sunday, Jager also blames the Balance of Performance (BoP), which was changed for the second day of racing. “The changes hit us a bit today,” he says.
“Slowed down significantly overnight by the BoP”
Maro Engel was the strongest Mercedes-AMG driver on Sunday, finishing seventh in both qualifying and the race. Jager is aware that the result was also due to penalties for the Winward team during the pit stops of Engel and Gounon, when a mechanic briefly put the wheel down to adjust his glasses – which is forbidden according to the regulations.
“Unfortunately, mistakes and penalties happened in the race that prevented a better result, so we also have to optimize and improve ourselves,” he demands. “We are looking at this in detail to hopefully find our way back to our usual performance at the Norisring.”
Jager is not the only one at Mercedes-AMG who was unhappy with the BoP change. Engel made a clear statement right after qualifying. “We were slowed down significantly overnight by the BoP – in that respect, I think it was a very good job from us as a team,” he told ran.de after finishing seventh, 0.258 seconds back.
Rival team: “What happened to Mercedes was one step too far”
Was the Mercedes too fast on Saturday? “When I look at the race yesterday, I don’t quite agree with that,” Engel says, pointing out that his car was not the fastest on Saturday. “Neither in qualifying nor in the race, if you look at the long-run performance. That’s why it was a bit surprising.”
And even HRT team boss Ulrich Fritz, now representing the Ford competition, said: “I don’t have any pity now, but what happened to Mercedes was somehow one step too far. As a Mercedes team, I wouldn’t have been happy about it.”
At the same time, given the strong positions in the championship, he is of the opinion that Mercedes-AMG “was not necessarily disadvantaged by the BoP this year.”
Strong race performance on Saturday cause for change?
While the Aston Martin and the Ford were also slowed down before Sunday, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 received a 0.5 millimeter smaller restrictor and ten kilograms of ballast in the car overnight. Word is that those responsible for the BoP were of the opinion that the AMG car was not yet quite at the top in qualifying on Saturday, but had closed the gap to the absolute front in the race.
This is likely the reason for the adjustment that the AMG camp is struggling with – especially since Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Ford were ahead on Sunday. “Today we lacked quite a bit of pace as a manufacturer,” says Auer as well, after losing the DTM lead on Sunday. He now sits just one point behind Emil-Frey-Ferrari driver Cairoli, level with Engel.
In his opinion, the top 5 were out of reach. Furthermore, in the final phase, even with fresh tires, he struggled to find a way past tenth-placed fellow countryman Thomas Preining in the “Grello” Porsche, whose tires had 39 more laps on them. “If someone is fast in the right places, then it’s difficult to get past him even with new tires,” says the Austrian.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
– The Motorsport.com Team
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: motorsport.com
