Mercedes “surprised” by recent McLaren pace
Mercedes “surprised” by recent McLaren pace
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has conceded to being “surprised” at McLaren's recent turn of pace that dropped the reigning champions into the clutches of its customer team in Austria recently.
McLaren has returned to Mercedes engines this season after a relatively fallow time with Honda and, more recently, Renault, and it has quickly gained form as the team has already taken more podiums this season than in any other since 2012.
In the Austrian Grand Prix last time out, Lando Norris qualified on the front row ahead of both Mercedes and went on to finish ahead of Lewis Hamilton, albeit the seven-time champion was hampered by floor damage.
Despite that, Shovlin said: “It was a surprise to see Lando in the shoot-out for pole, he was awfully close to getting pole.
“They [McLaren] have clearly been progressing. We know that any deficit isn’t on the power unit side, so it was a bit of a surprise to see them as strong as they were.
“Even in the race, we were racing them, whereas the previous week [also in Austria] they were doing their own thing and we got through them rather quickly and there was a big gap.”
Hamilton back on the sim
Lewis Hamilton was back on the team’s race simulator in Brackley between the two Austrian races in a determined bid to cling onto his long-held reign as champion this season.
The British driver managed to find some gains through set-up changes but Shovlin explained: “We migrated it a fair bit again, Lewis was back in the simulator again doing some more work and it seemed like a useful direction.
“It may be that we’ve improved the car, the problem is everyone’s looking at what they saw in the first week and improving it for the second. It doesn’t feel like we’ve made any relative progress.
“Some interesting direction, and we did get the balance around the lap a bit better, but it doesn’t look like we’ve found tenths of performance, so there’s still that gap and on [the soft] we seemed further off than we were on the medium.”
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
Horner in BRUTAL Wolff swipe amid Verstappen to Mercedes links
- 58 minutes ago
Hamilton car camera captures Verstappen's TRUE feelings toward F1 rival
- 1 hour ago
F1 star hits back at Sky pundit with 'boring old man' jibe
- 2 hours ago
F1 champion DOUBTS passion of new fans
- Today 15:58
F1 News Today: Horner and Red Bull saga to reignite as F1 legend OFFENDED by official statement
- Today 15:05
EXCLUSIVE: Norris and Piastri 'just like what you see on social media'
- Today 13:57
Related news
Marko reveals Vettel requirements for stunning F1 comeback
Fierce Hamilton F1 rival raises timing issue for Ferrari move
Wolff admits CHANGE of plan over Hamilton F1 replacement
Wolff reveals Mercedes UPGRADE plans for Miami GP
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