Mercedes to conduct "analysis" on Honda PU altitude difference

Hamilton in Mexico — Photo: © LAT Images

Mexico City Grand Prix

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Mercedes to conduct "analysis" on Honda PU altitude difference

Honda has historically outperformed Mercedes at high altitude

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Tuesday 9 November 2021 09:15

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin does not believe Honda had a better power unit package at high altitude at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Despite Mercedes having the best PU in F1 since the turbo-hybrid era began in 2014, Honda has been king in Mexico since joining forces with Red Bull, with the turbo from the Japanese manufacturer more effective and efficient at high altitude.

This was one of the concerns ahead of the past weekend, with the championship battles so close between Red Bull and Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

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It seemed as though those fears would ring true as Red Bull dominated practice, yet Mercedes came out on top in qualifying, suggesting all was not as bad as first thought.

But at the start of the 71-lap race, Verstappen was able to jump Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas and eventually cruise to a crushing victory to extend his lead over the seven-time champion to 19 points.

On whether the PU differential had closed, and with another race at altitude in Brazil looming this weekend, Shovlin said: "Well, we know that we have made a bit of progress. It is impossible to say with them.

"We had focused on the chassis side and how we could get a bit more grip and stop sliding around and overheating. It didn't feel like we had a deficit on the power unit side.

"We will do an analysis on that. It is just difficult to isolate everything that is going on in a single race. You need to look at them over a sequence of events to understand that."

Qualifying "flattered" Mercedes

The qualifying result, Mercedes 81st one-two in F1 history and a new record, was a shock to everyone, not least the Silver Arrows themselves.

But asked if it was a case of the W12 being a more capable car over one lap at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Shovlin replied: "It is difficult to say.

"[Qualifying] flattered us because on a circuit like this, to be as far ahead as we were is surprising and then perhaps, in the even hotter conditions, we were struggling a little bit more with rear grip.

"I don't think we have got as much downforce as they have when we go to max-downforce and that was costing us.

"Ultimately, they are both accurate reads - qualifying was qualifying and the race was the race but the fact is, when you are off the pace by whatever it was, three or four tenths, then it is very difficult to win races."