I just hope that Merc don't have problems understanding their car and struggle finding the sweet spot in the setups. This always seemed to be their weak spot in the past (even as far back as the Honda days) with their setup window being so small and sensitive. I would expect them to be able to turn up at a track with a pretty good base setup that was developed in the simulator. For what ever reason Merc seem weak in this area. They just seem to struggle with the correlation between the simulator and the car on the track. Was anything said during the winter about the W02 also sensitive small setup window?
As for the rear wing stalling, that is a little surprising as the wing seemed to work quite well in BCN which is supposed to be an aero track. I can only think that they must have changed something small which we haven't noticed or what other explanation can there be?
From the winter tests they were consistently at the top of the speed traps but that was with the wing open. I wonder with the wing closed if they have too much drag and hence Nico's slow top speeds during the race.
With McLaren so blatantly working on testing a flexi-wing during the winter, I'm surprised that Merc have not put more effort into this area of development. It clearly offers a huge chunk of time.
As this is was the first race on a bit of a unique track, I'm going to give them more time before judging if they're doomed.