Mercedes working on suspension changes, says Allison

LONDON : Mercedes will work flat out over Formula One's April break to give Lewis Hamilton and George Russell a more balanced car, with improved suspension, technical head James Allison said on Thursday.

The sport has a big gap in the calendar, due to the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix, until racing resumes in Azerbaijan on April 30.

Seven times world champion Hamilton, who gave the team a first podium of the season with second place in Australia on Sunday, has said he does not 'feel connected' to the car. Russell has referred to it as a 'lame horse'.

"We are working as hard as we can in the wind tunnel to find more downforce, we will be working as hard as we can in the drawing office to convert the things that the wind tunnel found a few weeks ago into performance that we deliver to the track," said Allison in a team debrief.

"We will be working in the drawing office also to bring some mechanical parts to the car, some different suspension components that we think will help the underlying balance of the car and make it a more driveable thing."

The fourth race of the season in Baku will be the first of six sprint weekends this year with plans under discussion to limit practice to just one Friday session.

Allison said it would be important to hit the ground running.

"Sprint races really reward the teams that can land there with a starting setup that is pretty on the money and ready to go in qualifying because the time is really compressed in a sprint race weekend," he added

Sunday was bitter-sweet, with Hamilton on the podium but Russell suffering a mechanical failure after a promising start from the front row.

Hamilton also led briefly before Red Bull's Verstappen powered past with the use of DRS (drag reduction) and went