Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas raced "with an abundance of caution" at Mugello - Mercedes

Mercedes

Hamilton and Bottas raced "with an abundance of caution" at Mugello - Mercedes

The duo stayed out of trouble but there were other issues

Ian Parkes

Wednesday 16 September 2020 11:11

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Mercedes trackside engineer Andrew Shovlin has revealed that Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were forced to exercise extreme caution en route to their latest one-two finish at Mugello.

As chaos unfolded behind the duo at various times during the Tuscan Grand Prix, Hamilton and Bottas were again engaged in their own private battle at the front, although it was not without its moments of consternation on the pit wall.

Notably, Hamilton and Bottas were both told to stay off all kerbs at one stage, which led to a protest from the former that he was going too slow.

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But with Bottas complaining of vibrations through his tyres, Mercedes had in the back of its mind what occurred late in the British Grand Prix when its drivers both suffered late tyre failures.

Asked as to why the instruction, Shovlin said: "It was when Valtteri was reporting the vibration on his first stint which was not dissimilar to what he felt in Silverstone.

"But really it was an abundance of caution given that at that stage of the race it was really our two guys racing each other.

"We would rather they race each other without putting a load of load into the car and the tyres but it was really that we could afford to exercise that caution."

A further area of concern was on Hamilton's front brakes at the first restart as plumes of smoke from a small fire could be seen emerging from them before soon dissipating when the racing resumed.

Despite what appeared to be a significant issue at the time, Shovlin has revealed there was little concern from the team.

"They get hot," said Shovlin. "The brake cooling itself is relatively closed [at Mugello] because you don't do a lot of braking, so you need to close the ducts to actually get the temperature.

"The problem is if they worked them then there is not a lot of air going through. There may have been a little fire but as soon as you get going it'll go out.

"The worry is only if you have burnt some of the carbon work, the cake tins and all the carbon work around the upright, and that can cause a bit of grief.

"It didn't look particularly bad, but saying that we would rather not have it than have it. It wasn't causing a great deal of panic to be honest."

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