A perfect summary of the way things have gone for them was delivered by Lewis Hamilton, who was knocked out of Q2 in Melbourne.
Their car is slow in a straight line and unstable through the corners – a dreaded combination for any drivers in motorsport.
Without confidence in their machinery, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton could quickly find themselves embroiled in a tough midfield fight with the likes of Aston Martin and McLaren.
Now former F1 driver and pundit Martin Brundle has taken time to critique their car, and he wasn’t very impressed with their results.
“Unquestionably the most difficult car to drive through here that I’ve seen so far – both the Mercedes Benz,” he said on Sky Sports.
“They’re really struggling here. When they put the throttle on, they’re really moving around.
“The back end of the car [is] complaining hard.”
It’s likely going to take a wave of upgrades to improve this variant, rather than finding a magic setup window that the German manufacturer cannot seem to find.
2026 is getting nearer by the day and a reset may be exactly what they need as Formula 1 rapidly approaches a new era of technical regulations.