Shovlin reveals Mercedes did not expect Las Vegas to suit W15

After Mercedes claimed their first double victory at Las Vegas since the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand prix, the German-British squad’s trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has reveals that he had not expected the W15 to display a dominant performance in Nevada.

Ferrari were favourites heading into the Las Vegas weekend, but they were caught by surprise on Thursday when Mercedes started to display a shocking performance.

George Russell secured pole position for the second Las Vegas Grand Prix, but his team-mate Lewis Hamilton endured a tough end to his qualifying as he made a mistake on his last two flying laps in Q3.

When the red lights went out, Russell had a great start, and although he was initially challenged by the Ferraris, he managed to disappear into the distance to secure his third career victory. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton used his W15’s dominant pace in cold conditions to climb through the field and help Mercedes secure a one-two finish in Nevada.

Assessing Mercedes’ performance at Las Vegas, the Brackley-based outfit’s trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has revealed that the eight-time team champion squad had not expect its W15 to operate exceptionally strongly.

“We didn’t come to Las Vegas thinking that this track would suit us, so it’s been great to see the car working so well. We’ve been quick from lap one of practice on Thursday. We knew from those sessions that the single lap would be strong, but it was very encouraging to see the race pace today.

“George did an amazing job managing from the front, covering off safety car risks and making sure he kept his tyres in better shape than the cars behind. It was another well-deserved win and the third of his F1 career. Lewis meanwhile outperformed all our simulations today to achieve P2.

“His final stint was immense; he’ll be frustrated that he lost too much time in traffic to allow him to fight for the win but the 1-2 is of course a great result for the team. We now have two races to go in the season. We will be giving it everything we can to achieve similar success in Qatar and Abu Dhabi,” noted Shovlin.