"We are driving the car in anger" - Mercedes admits their performance during 2022 F1 French GP qualifying is 'just not good enough'

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff admitted that they are struggling with their car at the 2022 French GP. The Austrian suggested they might be on the back foot because their overall package is not performing in warmer temperatures.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the 2022 French GP qualifying, Wolff said:

“I think that we knew that once we got the new tyres on and that we are driving the car in anger a little bit that we’re going to be there as a third force, like we’ve been all season, but it’s just not good enough. You can see that when you’re a little bit on the back foot and you’re expectations are on a certain level for the race weekend, and it doesn’t come together, a kind of freestyling starts.’’

He added:

“With us it was mainly experimenting with rear wing levels and also tyre temperatures, but at the end the overall package is just not quick enough and we can see that.’’

Despite the upgrades the team brought to the French circuit, its car was unable to deliver good performances in both the practice session and qualifying. Wolff believes their performance has not been satisfactory and they have been experimenting with the rear wing levels of their car. Tire temperatures have also been an issue for both their drivers in the heat.

Mercedes’ director of track-side engineering Andrew Shovlin admitted that the team can target a podium in France but not a win. The German team's rival McLaren is confident that it can challenge at least one of the Silver Arrows drivers in the race, citing their struggles.

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Mercedes hoping for the track temperature to create opportunities in the race

Mercedes trackside engineer Andrew Shovlin feels that the warm track temperature could create a window of opportunity for them in the race. Hoping their race pace is competitive, the Briton found it difficult to set a definitive target, given that they were unable to estimate their race pace at Circuit Paul Ricard.

The Silver Arrows drivers did not carry out a significant number of race simulations over the weekend and there is a significant gap between them and the front runners, which the team fails to explain.

Speaking in a team press release after the qualifying session, Shovlin said:

“We’re hoping that the race pace is stronger, which has been a general trend of our car although we didn’t do enough laps on Friday to get a good read on this. The race is going to be tough on the tyres though, the degradation we have seen up and down the field is higher than we expected and the forecast is for track temps over 50°C. That may create some opportunity but it’s hard to set our expectations without knowing where the long run pace will fall out.”

In theory, Circuit Paul Ricard suits Mercedes the best when it comes to porpoising and even the layout. However, the gap between the team and the front runners has been increasing significantly with every race weekend.