Shovlin: The balance didn’t suit either George or Lewis

Of the Mercedes drivers, only George Russell, who showed the sixth result, made it to the final qualifying for the sprint, and Lewis Hamilton only made it to the second session, after which he complained about problems with the car’s balance on the Brazilian track, which Even after a complete update of the asphalt covering, there were no fewer bumps.

George Russel (6th): “It was a difficult session, because during qualifying for the sprint the track gradually cooled down. The 6th position reflects our current level, i.e. We are behind the group of leaders and at the same time noticeably ahead of those inferior to us in pace.

I love the challenges that come with sprint weekends, where you have to jump straight into the action, but today there was another somewhat unexpected challenge: a very rough track. Although it is clear that everyone is in an equal position.
“Talking about tomorrow, I’m trying to move forward and use the sprint to find out exactly what needs to be improved on the car for the weekend’s main qualifying and Sunday’s Grand Prix.”

Lewis Hamilton (11th): “It was a difficult day for me, although the wonderful Brazilian fans supported me incredibly warmly. I think the bumpy surface of the track caused serious problems for everyone, and that’s why we had very serious problems during the first practice.

We raised the ride height during the break to try to improve, but in qualifying we just didn’t have the pace. The balance is very unstable, it is difficult to control and in none of the corners I could attack as I wanted.

I hope that we can progress in the sprint after starting from eleventh position and that we can continue to work on optimal settings for tomorrow’s qualifying.”

Andreas Shovlinhead race engineer: “When we practiced in fairly warm weather, it immediately became clear that the track, despite the renewed asphalt surface, remained as bumpy as ever. This only made it more difficult to find the right settings.

Both drivers completed the long series of laps well and we made relatively minor adjustments to the set-up before qualifying for the sprint. As soon as qualifying started it became clear that the balance of the car was not suitable for George or Lewis: the rear of the car was very unstable.

This left Lewis lacking confidence in the car, which affected his lap times and saw him fall less than 0.1 seconds short of reaching the final.

George managed to reach the third session and eventually achieved sixth result, but we lost quite a lot to Oscar Piastri, who won pole. Participating in tomorrow’s sprint will be a useful experience, we will try to find out what we have with the balance of the car over long sets of laps.

If you can show good pace, you can usually overtake on this circuit and then both drivers get the chance to move forward.”