Mercedes investigating "wacky" set-up that may have "hurt" its Styrian GP
Mercedes investigating "wacky" set-up that may have "hurt" its Styrian GP
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has revealed the reigning seven-time F1 champions explored a 'wacky and radical' new set-up in Styria in its bid to overcome Red Bull.
Lewis Hamilton's second-place finish to Max Verstappen at the Red Bull Ring was the fourth consecutive defeat for Mercedes, its longest streak without a victory since the introduction of the current turbo-hybrid era in 2014. Conceding the team had expected to trail Red Bull on outright pace, Shovlin revealed the extremes Mercedes had gone to in order to minimise the points damage.
“It is a difficult and quite peculiar circuit and Red Bull are normally strong here but we were also exploring a fairly wacky direction with the set-up, a sort of radical approach which I think was maybe a bit better on the single lap," explained Shovlin.
“The question that remains is whether we’ve hurt our degradation and we need to look at that in the next day or two.”
Pressed for further clues as to what this direction could be, Shovlin added: “I don’t really want to go into details.
"But essentially the window that we work in was much, much wider. We were going further than we have ever gone and [were] just understanding the effects of that.
“Lewis, before he came here, was doing a lot of work in the driver-in-the-loop simulator and it looked like an interesting direction.
"But an important part of this year for us is adapting well to every track and we do need to be a bit brave and original with set-up direction to do that.”
Mercedes "not searching for massive margins"
Hamilton trailed Verstappen by over 35 seconds at the finish although that gap was artificially increased from 15 seconds on the penultimate lap when Hamilton stopped for fresh tyres in a successful bid to secure the fastest lap point.
Despite losing out to the biggest winning margin seen at the Red Bull Ring in F1, Shovlin is confident Mercedes does not need to make wholesale changes to compete.
Ahead of the second race at the venue this weekend, albeit with Pirelli's tyres a step softer compared to the Styrian event, Shovlin added: “Fundamentally the car is very similar.
"But there are additional challenges of extracting the grip out of that C5 compound, the very softest rubber, on a single lap.
"That might be quite challenging if it is very hot here and the other thing is we’re not looking for massive margins.
“We were down by a couple of tenths in the race and there was a bit of degradation but the solution to both of those problems might be the same thing.
"We’ll just try and get the rears running a bit cooler and look after the rubber a bit better and you may find that both of those things come our way."
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
Mercedes star tipped to replace struggling driver THIS season
- 26 minutes ago
F1 legend issues DAMNING verdict on proposed rule change
- 1 hour ago
Red Bull chief admits interest in poaching TWO rival stars
- 2 hours ago
Audi agree LONG-TERM F1 deal with star driver
- 3 hours ago
FIA boss HITS OUT at 'court of public opinion' after interference allegations
- 3 hours ago
F1 News Today: Horner reveals Verstappen SECRET as team reveal surprise name change
- Today 06:27
Related news
Ferrari calls for "tighter reins" on FIA staff
Hamilton “won’t question logic” of Mercedes development saga
FIA investigating additional gravel trap solutions for Red Bull Ring
Ferrari still not “addressed completely” its car issues - Binotto
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860