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Brawn: Mercedes needs time to fully harness F-duct

Ross Brawn has admitted that Mercedes still has a long way to go before it can fully utilise its F-duct system.

The Brackley-based team introduced its take on McLaren’s system in China, but has since struggled to get to grips with the new device.

This has been pointed out by Brawn, who revealed that Mercedes’s interpretation is suffering from much drag down the straights.

“I think when you get the F-duct working properly you have both,” the team principal told Autosport.

“You have the downforce in the corners and then turn drag off on the straight. At the moment we are not turning off enough drag on the straight.

“As we said before, McLaren were clever enough to come up with the concept and have a lot more experience of it.

“You are seeing certain teams abandoned in Turkey and when it works properly it is a very, very powerful tool – and we are persevering with it.

“It works in a certain way with it, but not giving us the full benefit yet. We have the right compromise with what we have.

“We will be a little bit vulnerable with straightline speed but best compromise for that time and consistency on tyres.”

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