Mercedes' W17 straight-mode puts Ferrari on back foot
Mercedes held a clear performance advantage over Ferrari going into the Chinese Grand Prix, driven largely by active-aero/straight-mode and differences in energy and engine deployment. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc both said Mercedes showed a distinct edge after the Australian Grand Prix, with Hamilton putting the qualifying gap at about eight tenths and the race-trim deficit at four to five tenths; in another report he described Ferrari as roughly half a second per lap slower in race trim.
Observers attributed much of Mercedes’ edge to the W17’s straight-mode performance and how that system lets Mercedes deploy energy more effectively on flying laps, making their cars harder to clip on the straights. Formula 1 confirmed straight mode will be enabled at several sector pairs in Shanghai, and Hamilton urged Ferrari to work out how Mercedes achieved the “huge step.” George Russell’s dominant weekend in Melbourne — converting pole into victory after a near-0.8s pole advantage over non-Mercedes cars — underlined the gap.
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