The youngest driver of the Mercedes-Benz team couldn’t have summed the results up for the Stuttgart ranks, as Pascal Wehrlein said that he “found the going tough.” This was the case as all seven drivers found themselves on the receiving end of a weekend that they will want to forget next time out.
The 19-year-old said that he didn’t have the car under him at the start, but found that the “car’s balance changed dramatically during the race,” which helped him to get a bit further up the field.
However, it was not enough to secure any points in the season opener, which reflects the form that Mercedes have had during the races at the early part of last year. This is apart from the beginning of the new DTM-Era in 2012.
The respective statements made by Gary Paffett and Paul di Resta also reflected the fact that Mercedes does have to work hard to get back on the pace rather quickly. This should hopefully be before a major struggle occurs when it comes to the strategy and pace aspects that will help them regain previous form.
Robert Wickens and Christian Vietoris were showing that the option tyres were coming to them in the first half of the race, with the car somehow not coping with the primes.both f them were trying to put a really bad qualifying behind them and each got into the top ten before pitting at the half way point.
Mercedes’ Wolfgang Schattling was very aware that the team has done a lot of work during one of the longest off-season on the motorsport calendar, but it still did not answer the questions as to why all seven drivers couldn’t compete with the rest of the field.
“We certainly deserved a better result today,” said the Head of DTM Management. “It’s obvious that our level of performance is not what it should be. We have to improve and continue to work hard. We now have a fortnight in which to considerably improve our performance before the next race in Oschersleben.“
The option tyres were showing a lot of a difference with regards to the lap times being recorded at certain points during the race, with drivers like Mattias Ekstrom being over two seconds quicker. Where do the answers lie at the “Three-Pointed Star?” It won’t be solvable overnight…
