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Mercedes performed well in the practice session of the French Grand Prix, but they were angry that part of the track caused damage to the car.
Mercedes has recovered from the poor performance in the first practice session at the opening of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in France, but it is not without some serious pressure.
Waltery Bottas and Lewis Hamilton had the first and second fastest results in P1, respectively, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen came in third.
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But for Mercedes, it was not all smooth sailing, as demonstrated by the intense radio exchanges between team manager Ron Meadows and FIA racing director Michael Massey.
The owner of the Mercedes pit station was angry about the damage caused by Bottas’s car when it strayed from the second corner of the Paul Ricard circuit.
The Finn bounced from the side of the road, causing severe damage to his front wing.
“The yellow rumble bars at the second (turning) exit caused a lot of damage to our car. They were too aggressive,” Meadows complained on FIA Radio.
“They are the 50mm that we usually use in many places in Ron, and they are actually there in 2019,” Massi retorted.
“Well, all I want to tell you is that our cars took root because we drove over them,” Meadows replied.
“We can’t say:’Well, you shouldn’t go there’, because walking too wide can cause tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of pounds in losses.”
Massi gave a rude response, implying that the damage was caused only by the driver’s error.
“It’s a bit more than three feet, but I will take a look, thank you,” he said.
The champion leader, Verstappen, was the fastest in P2, beating Bottas by just eight thousandths of a second to take the top spot on the grid.
At the same time, Daniel Ricciardo showed encouraging signs in the first practice match in France, ranking sixth in start time.
The Australian would be happy to drive faster than his McLaren teammate Lando Norris, who was a bit slower than the ninth fastest.
However, Ricardo struggled in P2, finishing at 14th place, far behind Norris in 10th place.
Following two disappointing performances on the streets of Monte Carlo and Baku, F1 stars Ricardo looked forward to the “more tolerant” tracks in France and Belgium.
The 31-year-old McLaren team continued to perform poorly in Monaco and Azerbaijan’s maiden season, with the Australian ranked 12th and 9th on the street circuit respectively.
Ricardo admitted that he is still adjusting to the MCL35M, but believes that he can find some momentum on the less crazy tracks of the French and Austrian Grand Prix.
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