Russell finished FP2 down in seventh place with 1.3 behind leader Charles Leclerc, while Hamilton followed three tenths behind in 12th. The team was lagging behind mainly in the top speed tables, as it was between 11 and 20 km / h lower than its opponents in the huge 2.2 km distance of Baku, which according to Wolff cost the team up to one second per lap. . Wolff said his drivers felt like there was a parachute falling behind the W13, which was limiting the car’s top speed due to bounce problems. “We have a car that is very slippery, so the drivers commented that it looks like we have a parachute behind the car. So between the sliding car and the bottom this is the main gap we see here in the straight,” he explained. Wolf. “Others like Ferrari have it, even a little worse, but we get to different parts of the track badly, which affects our aerodynamics and greatly affects our speed on the straight. And therefore, the route is not very good. George Russell, Mercedes W13 Photo: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images “And that can cost quite a few tens and yesterday we lost a second in the straight from Ferrari and Red Bull. While Ferrari and Red Bull are benefiting from more powerful engines than last year, Wolff does not believe that its power unit, a traditional Mercedes powerhouse, has suddenly become a weakness and is a factor in the maximum speed deficit. Read also: On one occasion, the car did not face the dramatic seal problems at last month’s Spanish Grand Prix, with Hamilton and Russell suddenly appearing much higher at the top of the charts. “I think our engines have done a great job of understanding how we can optimize software and power unit development since the beginning of the year, so our problem here is not the engine,” Wolff said. “In Barcelona we had a big rear wing and the car was quite stable in the straight and we were one of the fastest, but there is never a thing and the engine is definitely not the area I want to show.”
