Lewis Hamilton was clearly in pain getting out of his car after his Mercedes suffered more porpoising issues last year in Azerbaijan, prompting Toto Wolff to apologise to him

It was therefore a major surprise when it became clear they had been caught out by the new regulations and were suffering - more than any other team - with porpoising, a bouncing phenomenon that was an unexpected consequence of the way the 2022 cars had been designed under the new rules. Verstappen declared the situation a “mess” of the FIA’s own making and noted he could not understand why a safety car or a virtual safety car (VSC) had not been used instead of a red flag. Similarly, George Russell called the red flags unnecessary and McLaren’s Lando Norris implied the FIA was making decisions in an attempt to improve the show.

Formula One is so successful because it is sport and we follow the rulebook and that gives great entertainment, as long as it is clear how it is being interpreted. Whether you call a VSC or a safety car or you red‑flag it, as long as we understand in terms of us being able to plan and in having the same rules for everyone, then that is OK.” The electricity consumption was determined on the basis of Regulation 2017/1151/EU according to WLTP. Mercedes are celebrating Pride Month by running a special rainbow emblem on their cars for the Azerbaijan, Canadian and British Grands Prix – with driver Lewis Hamilton saying he is ‘really proud’ of the initiative.

INEOS already has a wide sports portfolio with interests in athletics, cycling, football and the America’s Cup yacht race and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said the company is a natural fit for his team. Somewhat fortuitously, Mercedes says its decision last year to make its production carbon-neutral from this year left it well placed to respond. “We had a big advantage, because we finalised a large green energy contract for all of our factories last year,” says Jörg Burzer, the MBG board member responsible for production and supply chains. “This is a contract which focuses on wind, solar and hydroelectric power.” The chart below shows free air races with no influence from traffic or car pace. It simply shows the difference in race time though tyre selection and stop lap. On his pace throughout the weekend, he added: "I think in practice the pace was there, there was just a couple of big mistakes in every lap. I went into qualifying and I hadn't done a clean lap all weekend so I made life a bit more difficult for myself. Q1 messy, Q2 I got it together finally and it was pretty good in Q3. Happy with that just close but not quite close enough."

Aston Martin data point 

I think we had really good time between the test and the race to analyse what happened," Russell said ahead of first practice. "There were a few things going on with the car that we didn't quite expect, but we've been able to resolve pretty easily. We were just working in slightly the wrong window. So we'll put that change in for this weekend." Mercedes-Benz Group (MBG) produces hundreds of thousands such vehicles a year from eight German factories: Rastatt is one of three in the state of Baden-Württemberg, near the company’s physical and spiritual home in Stuttgart. The carmaker lends its name to a whole area of this affluent city – the Benzviertel, where its headquarters and museum are located – and to its Bundesliga football club’s stadium. Of course, we are looking at where we can improve the car, we are looking for potential to develop, and you will see visible changes coming on the car over the next few races." Mercedes appeared to produce a highly reliable engine from the off, whereas other teams, such as Ferrari, perhaps went for a more aggressive approach of producing a higher performance engine that they could then make more reliable. They were well off the pace as Red Bull and Ferrari battled for wins throughout the first half of the season and were clearly out of championship contention long before the campaign reached its halfway point.

China is by far Mercedes’s biggest market: it sold nearly 223,000 vehicles there in the third quarter of this year, representing 42% of its total sales in the period. Now Germany is working out how to recalibrate relations with Beijing.READ MORE: Red Bull and Ferrari are ‘too far ahead' says Russell as Mercedes end Friday practice looking for pace There was concern at pre-season testing as the second of the three days saw Hamilton struggle for balance in the morning before Russell broke down with a hydraulic issue in the later session, but a better final day saw some positivity retained. The failure of diplomatic policy towards Moscow has also prompted much soul-searching in Germany over its choice of business partners, with questions now being raised over the wisdom of its reliance on China. Germany’s businesses and households had grown accustomed to plentiful Russian gas and oil for many years. Russia accounted for more than half of the country’s natural gas supply in 2020. Meanwhile, F1 and the teams have reached provisional agreement to change the format for the six sprint races this season, with the first to be held at the next round in Azerbaijan.

Frustratingly for Mercedes, their hopes of challenging for titles this season already appear to be extremely low, and the question for many is whether they can rebuild for the 2024 campaign. I was looking at my arm, not really sure what was going on and didn’t realise I had been hit by a piece of debris. People behind me were scrambling around, fighting over who gets this piece of wheel and I’m like ‘what’s that?’ We pieced it together and I realised: ‘Holy shit, that’s just hit me in the arm.’” Mercedes have opted to celebrate by running a ‘Pride Star’ emblem on both their W13 challenger and Hamilton and George Russell’s helmets for the next three Grands Prix, as part of their wider ‘Accelerate 25’ programme, with Hamilton – who earlier this week wished a “Happy Pride” to his social media followers – revealing what the move meant to him.Germany’s largest manufacturers, including Mercedes and the other carmakers, have enjoyed booming sales in China, while the country’s Mittelstand of small and medium-sized engineering companies have powered Chinese production.