Mercedes ‘still doesn’t have the pace’ to match Red Bull and Ferrari’s level despite double podium at 2022 F1 French GP, says Mika Hakkinen

Mika Hakkinen feels Mercedes are still lacking behind Ferrari and Red Bull on pace, despite their double podium finish at the 2022 F1 French GP. The former world champion, however, felt that the Silver Arrows might have resolved most of their porpoising issues, which has resulted in their improved race pace.

Writing about the Brackley-based outfit on his blog on Unibet, Hakkinen stated:

“It was good to see Lewis [Hamilton] and George [Russell] on the podium together for the first time, but although Mercedes looked quite good in the race their car still doesn’t have the pace of either the Red Bull or Ferrari. At this point in the season, it’s clear that Mercedes has solved many of the issues associated with the porpoising we saw early in the year, and on a smooth circuit like Paul Ricard they were consistent. But the gap to Ferrari and Red Bull remains in terms of outright pace.”

The Finnish world champion believes that Mercedes are far behind the front runners Red Bull and Ferrari despite displaying good pace at the Circuit Paul Ricard. Hakkinen also felt that the nature of the French circuit reduced the bouncing on their car.

Mercedes team boss feels they are clueless about their performance comparison

Mercedes executive director and team principal Toto Wolff believes it is still difficult to determine their place in the pecking order in terms of performance. Despite two podiums and consistent podium performances, the Austrian still feels the Silver Arrows are struggling with pace in comparison to Red Bull and Ferrari.

Speaking after the 2022 F1 French GP, a skeptical Wolff said:

“I think second and third is great, they are two steps on the podium and the most points [we could get]. It’s encouraging we could score this result on Sunday but it’s still very difficult for us to pin down where [we would end up] if everyone finishes.”

Commenting on the race overall, the Austrian team boss said:

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“You know, we had the pace to go with [Sergio] Perez, but [Charles] Leclerc shunted out… and [Carlos] Sainz started from the back. I think it’s simply we’re just lacking performance on the single lap and we’re lacking performance on the initial stages of the stint so there’s something to understand, and it’s not a silver bullet but it’s a few topics in performance. Second and third is a good result but we need to work out how to win and there’s still a gap.”

According to Wolff, the gap in pace for the front-runners means there is still work to do. He was also adamant about focusing on being able to win and improving their performance to achieve that result. The eight-time world champions are third in the constructors’ championship and trail Ferrari by 44 points.