Mercedes had a strong showing at the Spanish Grand Prix last weekend with Hamilton and Russell finishing third and fourth.
Andrew Shovlin, the chief engineer, shared his thoughts on their performance in a debrief on Mercedes’ YouTube channel.
George Russell‘s Rocket Start
Russell’s start was electrifying as he jumped from P4 to P1. Shovlin explained how it happened: “We’ve got the GPS data for the McLaren, for Max’s car, and we can see that George got this brilliant slipstream. He then pulls out to the side, the car stops accelerating as much. And it wasn’t that he brakes late, he actually brakes in about the same place, he just doesn’t brake very hard and he carried a lot more speed around the corner. Now, how he know there was that much grip, I don’t know.”
Fans might think Russell’s move was incredibly daring!
Strategic Advantage for Hamilton
Hamilton secured his first podium in Barcelona after a long time. Shovlin believes Hamilton’s skillful tyre management made all the difference. “We had to do 30 laps with George. [The hard tyre] is the only one that could have done that range. When you look at Lewis’ race though, because he was able to extend, that was a function of being able to stay far enough away from Leclerc that we were out of undercut range, he got got a point where you could then do a soft tyre to the finish. And therefore that was an easy decision also to do that with Lewis.”
Shovlin Not Yet Satisfied
Despite recent progress with two podium finishes in consecutive races, Shovlin isn’t completely satisfied yet. “Great to see both drivers on the podium in the last two events. But we want more; we want to do better than third places.”
Looking Ahead: Austria Grand Prix
Shovlin is already looking forward to Austria’s tricky circuit and sprint race format. He mentioned it’s challenging because they have just one hour to get everything set up right. However, recent changes have made things easier for them: “It’s a tricky circuit and it’s a sprint race… The drivers have been much happier with the start setups… Sometimes it’s really hot; sometimes it’s wet … But everyone is enjoying racing now.”
What do you think about Mercedes’ chances in Austria?
