Mercedes chief race engineer Andrew Shovlin sees similarities between his team’s problems this year and McLaren’s problems in 2009 and believes Mercedes will have to wait until 2023 to climb back to the top of the podium.
Andrew Shovlin: “In 2009 I worked at Brawn GP, we started the season brilliantly but we didn’t have the resources to refine the car during the season so at the end of the year we could hardly come close to it. come on stage. McLaren was the complete opposite – they started the season with a car that clearly didn’t match the team’s capabilities. But when McLaren took an approach to the regulations, the development speed of the car was really impressive. The parallel here is that we are just now beginning to enjoy solving this technical problem and developing the machine.
It always takes time… There is always a period between understanding the problem, finding a solution and actually putting the parts on the track that make the car go faster. But Mercedes has an incredible atmosphere, we are determined to get back to the lead. Our goal is to make the fastest car. I don’t know if we can achieve this this season or if we have to wait for the next one, but we’re doing our best.
Isn’t it time to switch to a car for next year? In Formula 1, it doesn’t happen in one day. Resources are gradually shifting from developing W13 to developing W14. We need more clarity on the regulations, when it comes out we will shift the focus more to next year’s car.
All teams are already working on cars for 2023. For us, the difference is that for Mercedes the beginning of the season turned out to be very difficult, we urgently needed to solve the problems that arose, and only now can we return to what can become systematic development mentioned, and this is a very interesting process.
Now there are many happy faces at our base as we have moved into the working phase which is connected to the future. We have to score points, we have to fight in the championship, but the most important thing is that we have to understand what needs to be done for next season so that the car can fight for the lead again.”
Source: F1 News
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