It was a tough triple header for Mercedes, reckons Shovlin

On the back of a three tough races, Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin has acknowledged that it has been a difficult triple header for the Brackley-based outfit as it has failed to finish on the podium in Texas, Mexico City and Sao Paulo.

Having jumped into the lead at the start, George Russell led the opening stages of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix before getting unlucky with a red flag interruption. The Briton made his pit stop before the red flag which meant that he found himself down in P5 when the race was restarted.

Although he could overtake Lando Norris at the restart, he spent the closing stint of the 69-lap race behind the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, crossing the finish line in P4.

His team-mate Lewis Hamilton endured a very difficult opening stint, having complained about bouncing. The Briton ran wide at Juncao twice before enjoying a more successful second stint after the restart to end up tenth.

Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin has acknowledged that it has been a difficult triple header for the Brackley-based outfit as it has failed to finish on the podium in Texas, Mexico City and Sao Paulo.

“It has been a tough triple header for the team – and the final day of competition continued in very much the same way. Qualifying and the race itself were bittersweet: Lewis struggled for confidence in the car, and did not progress past Q1 in a session that saw several cars finish out of position.

“George was able to build greater confidence in the rear end in particular and took a strong P2 on the grid. The aborted start led to some unusual circumstances but when the race proper began, George ran strongly at the head of the field until the VSC came out at the same time as a heavy rain shower.

“We wanted to use that opportunity to change his worn intermediate tyres and were followed into the pits by Norris from second place – while Verstappen and the Alpine drivers stayed out and took the gamble on a Safety Car or red flag, which subsequently came.

“When racing resumed, with everybody on new tyres, George was able to get past Leclerc into P4 but then – as we saw up and down the field today – got stuck behind an ultimately slower car and was unable to overtake, without DRS available. It was the same story for Lewis a little further back, who climbed into the points but was unable to pass Lawson despite several close attempts.

Shovlin reckons Mercedes will be able to learn a lot from the data it has gathered in the last three rounds: “P4 and P10 feel like a meagre reward after leading the first part of the race, but there’s plenty for us to pick through and learn from across this weekend, and from the last three races.

“We will be focusing on that work in the coming days, to give ourselves the strongest foundation for the final triple header of the season,” the Briton concluded.