George Russell is also a little hesitant about the prospects for the W13, although he is hopeful.
“I think, on paper, Singapore should suit our car,” he notes. “But when we look back at the street circuits of Monaco and Azerbaijan, our car doesn’t fare too well over the bumps.
“So, we’re not too sure how it will fall out. But we need to keep on pushing, keep on improving the car and I’m pleased that we’ve got a clear direction we need to go now.”
Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott agreed that Singapore should be good for the car.
“I think when you look back at the learning we have gathered over the season, we expect that Singapore will be a bit more like we’ve seen in Budapest and Zandvoort,” he says.
“It’s a bumpy circuit which is going to provide its challenges, but in terms of the nature of the corners we think it could be a bit better for our car. So, hopefully we will have a good result there.
“As always with all the pre-simulation work we need to do, we will maximize our learning in the practice sessions and hopefully we turn that into a good result over the weekend.”
Cautiously optimistic Wolff: “It would be awesome if we could win a race on merit”
Mercedes
A Mercedes win would certainly be a good story, and would be a useful boost for the sport at a time when a second title for Max Verstappen has become a formality, and could even be secured this weekend if he wins and things unravel for Ferrari and Charles Leclerc.
“I think it would be awesome if we could win a race on merit, without any grid penalties,” says Wolff.
“I think if you would have asked us after Spa I would have said impossible, then after Zandvoort, we nearly won that one.
“So I think that must be the target. We don’t want to end up the season with no race win, even if the sails are absolutely set for 2023. It would be quite a nice thing in a difficult season for all our people.”
