Andrew Shovlin says the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team have the opportunity to make gains thanks to the multitude of grid penalties around them this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, but they need to find performance in their W13 if they are to make this happen.
Six drivers already have grid penalties thanks to engine changes this weekend in Belgium, and these include Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren F1 Team’s Lando Norris, all of whom looked quick on Friday.
However, Mercedes’ pace during Friday’s running in Belgium was not that strong, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell ending only sixth and eighth fastest in the afternoon session.
Shovlin, the Track Engineering Director at Mercedes, says the team have a good idea which direction they need to go with set-up overnight, but they will need to find significant single lap pace if they are to challenge for a place at the very front of the grid for the second race weekend in a row on Saturday.
“Quite a messy day with a bit of a rain and a red flag but we were able to get a read on the main issues to work on overnight,” said Shovlin. “Our single lap performance clearly needs a bit of focus, neither driver had a good feel for the Soft tyre and probably we’re not getting it into the right window.
“There wasn’t much useful learning on a long run given the conditions. We had the Hard tyre in the second session which was particularly difficult in the cool and damp but the Medium was working reasonably well in FP1.
“Clearly there is an opportunity with the number of cars that are taking penalties, but we do need to find a bit of pace overnight if we are to capitalise on that.”