Andrew Shovlin answers fan questions

Andrew Shovlin, Chief Race Engineer at Mercedes, answered some questions about the results of the Miami Grand Prix.

Q: Why did Lewis Hamilton leave the pits so late in the second part of qualifying and only showed 12th result in the end?
Andrew Shovlin: The biggest problem in Miami was that we were simply not fast enough. Some cars, which are usually inferior to us in qualifying, caused us some problems this time. This is the first moment.

But when we talk about our tactics in that session, we tried to find the right balance between the risk of going out too late and trying to predict when the condition would improve, which would allow us to get a lap can drive with a higher result.

But we also didn’t rule out the possibility that if we left early, we could avoid traffic problems. In addition, there is less risk of yellow or red flags hindering us. But when we finally decided to go to track, it turned out that there were several cars in front of us, and because of this, Lewis struggled to warm up the tires on the first lap after the boxes.

Therefore he lost the most time in the first sector, but we have yet to analyze the correctness of our actions in choosing the moment for Hamilton’s attempt, because it would certainly be better if the track was clear for him. However, the main problem is that we need to increase the speed of the machine.

Q: If Lewis changed tires a few laps earlier during the race, would he have had a chance to finish closer to Sainz, adding five penalty seconds?
Andrew Shovlin: When we chose the moment for Lewis to pit, the first thing we wanted was for him to get ahead of Esteban Ocon. The challenge, however, was to avoid wasting time due to traffic jams. When we released him on track he had to overtake Valtteri Bottas, but Lewis quickly overtook him.

After his pit stop, Esteban really got behind Lewis, but it’s unlikely we could have achieved more. In the early stages of the race, Hamilton lost too much time in traffic, leaving him with no chance of getting close to Sainz to take advantage of the Ferrari driver being fined.

Q: Why did Lewis let George Russell take the lead and not try to compete with him?
Andrew Shovlin: We asked him to let George through because they were following a different tactic. Lewis started on hard tyres, then switched to medium tyres. In Russell’s case it was the opposite: he started on this rubber, and after the pit stop he switched to Hard.

When George got the chance to compete for higher positions, Lewis was eager to miss a partner. But it must be emphasized again that our car was not at the level we want to be. When our riders work together on the track or in the team base and share information with each other, it helps us move forward. And rivalry with each other now excites them to a lesser extent.

Q: What speed increase can be expected from the technical innovations the team is preparing for Imola?
Andrew Shovlin: Let’s go back to pre-season testing in Bahrain. At that moment we realized that our car would not allow us to fight for victory in the championship. If we continued to move in the same direction during the chassis refinement, we would not have been able to rise to a higher level to compete on an equal footing with Red Bull.

Around that time we made a decision on exactly how we would upgrade the W14, how we would adjust the chassis parameters, what driving characteristics we wanted to achieve. The car we will bring to Imola is the result of the first phase of this work.

Research in a wind tunnel takes a lot of time and it is impossible to achieve quick results here. But the series of updates we will present in the next phase is only the first step in the right direction. We also hope that we will continue to introduce new items in the later stages of the season.

We hope that all this will enable us to increase both the speed in qualifying and the pace in the races. Our hope is also linked to the fact that thanks to this approach we will have a greater chance to fight for victories in the future.