#F1: Mercedes trackside engineer Andrew Shovlin says they are going to arrive in Mexico with a car that is performing at the best of the car’s ability regardless of it being a track that historically favours Red Bull and the Honda PU.
The Silver Arrows don’t seem to have their spirits down after the #UGP, in fact, they took is as a big positive as they were able to push Red Bull at a race weekend where they had the competitive edge, and finish just 1.333s behind.
Andrew Shovlin says compared to what happened at the Dutch Grand Prix, where Verstappen was in a class of his own, the Austin performance was more heartening.
“This [US GP] is the toughest one that we've had for a long time. Since the [summer] break probably, only Zandvoort has
“This [US GP] is the toughest one that we've had for a long time. Since the [summer] break probably, only Zandvoort has
probably felt as difficult as this one was.”
"On Sunday, Max had us beat, but I don't think it was a comfortable win for them, and we were forcing them to take some risks. So if that is a bad race for us, then hopefully we can have more of the good ones and then we can still be
"On Sunday, Max had us beat, but I don't think it was a comfortable win for them, and we were forcing them to take some risks. So if that is a bad race for us, then hopefully we can have more of the good ones and then we can still be
in a decent position.”
With different track characteristics appearing to favour the Red Bull or the Mercedes, Shovlin suspects that at circuits which are better its car, the advantage it has over its rival is bigger.
With different track characteristics appearing to favour the Red Bull or the Mercedes, Shovlin suspects that at circuits which are better its car, the advantage it has over its rival is bigger.
"I think the pace that we showed in Turkey and Sochi, in particular in terms of the race pace, it probably puts us a bit further ahead of them than they have been ahead of us here," - Andrew Shovlin
“For us, the encouraging thing was we can still put them under pressure when we clearly didn't have the best car.”
While Austin has been a happy stomping ground for Mercedes in the past, the stresses that the circuit places on the rear tyres meant that the outfit was not too
While Austin has been a happy stomping ground for Mercedes in the past, the stresses that the circuit places on the rear tyres meant that the outfit was not too
surprised it faced a more tricky weekend this time out. Shovlin explained that they were aware of the areas they may struggle in and the experience from Zandvoort gave them an idea of what they would be facing with the tyre temperatures (overheating).
Albeit there is no saying in which tracks Mercedes are going to be quick and which they are going to be slow in, Shovlin says they know what they need to get right in the car.
“we know what we need to do in terms of getting the tyres to the right window to operate, and we know
“we know what we need to do in terms of getting the tyres to the right window to operate, and we know
the homework we need to do on a Friday to be able to make those calls accurately.”
“But regardless of [Mexico suiting Red Bull in previous occasions] that, we've still got to arrive with a car that is performing at the best of the car's ability and give a car to Lewis and
“But regardless of [Mexico suiting Red Bull in previous occasions] that, we've still got to arrive with a car that is performing at the best of the car's ability and give a car to Lewis and
Valtteri that allows them to do their best job. That is the only thing we are working on. We are not really worrying about where Red Bull are.”
via motorsport.com
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