Mike Elliott: In Jeddah we let riders fight

Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott summarized the results of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, in which George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished fourth and fifth, and answered questions from the team’s fans.

Q: In Jeddah, tire wear is lower than in Bahrain. So why did Lewis start on hard tyres? If Lewis had followed the Soft-Medium tire strategy, could the result have been different?
Mike Elliott: When we evaluated the strategic options, we came to the conclusion that Soft is not the best option for the race. For our car, Medium and Hard were suitable formulations. In fact, the question was in what order to put these tyres: first Medium and then Hard, or on the starting section from Hard and switch to Medium at the pit stop.

When we evaluated both options, the simulation showed that statistically they led to almost the same result, so it really didn’t matter which of the two compositions to start with. However, given Lewis’ position, we thought Hard could provide an advantage in the first segment.

If the safety car had come out at the right time for us, when the rest had already pitted, Lewis could have had an advantage, as less time is lost at the pit stop while the safety car is on track.

The example of Charles Leclerc shows what I am talking about. He stopped before the safety car came onto the track, losing the entire pit stop time. However, those who were on Hard tires and had a tire change while on the safety car lane gained time and gained an advantage.

So starting on Hard didn’t give much advantage on the track, but it could give a strategic advantage, so we chose that option.

Question: Can you explain what is meant by changing the concept of the machine?
Mike Ellott: Simple answer: different people mean different things by these words. After the race in Bahrain, the team admitted that we are not in the positions we want to be and that we have to review a lot of parameters to make the car work. We had to understand what we needed to change to get more speed, as the leaders are behind a lot.

Engineers began to revise the aerodynamics, the shape of the car, the geometry of the side pontoons, the bottom. We wanted to understand what exactly we were missing. In addition, we tried to understand whether the right targets had been chosen for the assessment of aerodynamic efficiency.

We evaluated the machine’s mechanical settings – suddenly we were missing something in this part. We’ve been trying to understand what we can add to the car to increase the speed as quickly as possible because we want to come back and fight at the front.

We had to face the fact that the position of the team is not up to expectations and we have to work hard to come back.

Q: Lewis fell just two-tenths short of ahead of Fernando Alonso if the Spaniard’s penalty remained in effect. Did you tell him during the race to step forward?
Mike Elliott: In the race we saw Aston Martin serve a penalty and we saw one of the mechanics touch the car. At that time we did not yet know whether this would lead to a fine. Besides, we didn’t know what the penalty would be – five or 10 seconds – if there was a penalty.

We told both riders to attack. George was able to close the gap by five seconds, Lewis was close to closing the gap by ten seconds. Unfortunately for us, the stewards decided that there should be no penalty, so the gaps no longer mattered.

Q: Why didn’t the team ask George to let Lewis go? Did Hamilton have the potential to challenge Fernando Alonso for third?
Mike Elliott: First of all, you have to take into account that the safety car left early enough, so that the riders had a very long final segment. Lewis had a faster Medium compound, but towards the end of the stretch the Hard tires were much faster.

Lewis could pressure George at the beginning of the segment, but he wouldn’t be able to at the end. In addition, if you look at the entire segment as a whole, it is not entirely clear which of the trains was faster.

We always let our riders fight – that’s the team’s approach, and we don’t think the situation was such that one of the riders should have had the advantage to take a higher position in the race. So we let them fight each other.

Question: How is the atmosphere in the team?
Mike Elliott: The stage in Bahrain became a reality dip – we found out that we were not competitive, which upset the whole team. Then we began to ask ourselves: what can we do to correct the situation and how can we return to the fray?

When I walk through our base, I feel the tremendous energy of our employees. We have already started working on new products to return to the fray this season. All we can do is keep attacking. I am very happy to see such a return from everyone on the team.

Q: Will the Mercedes uniform in Australia resemble that of the Bahrain or Jeddah team?
Mike Elliott: First of all, our main task at the moment is to keep learning. After two races, it’s hard to see a steady trend. We are all focused on finding ways to move forward.

In terms of track characteristics, Australia has more load on the front tyres, so it’s more like Jeddah than Bahrain. I hope we will take another small step forward, become more competitive and learn something new that will add something in the long run.