Does Mercedes have something left? 'Both drivers not yet completely happy'

F1 News

2 September 2022 at 19:05
Last update 2 September 2022 at 22:04
  • GPblog.com

A week after the disappointing weekend in Spa-Francorchamps, Mercedes has reason to feel a lot better. After two free practice sessions, the German racing team is on a good run, but according to Andrew Shovlin there is still room for improvement.

"The car has been a lot easier to balance here than in Spa and we look to be in a better place in terms of pace; we're still missing a bit on single lap and long run but the gaps are a lot better than last week," Shovlin said in a Mercedes press release.

Does Mercedes have something left?

The team of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell therefore has a pretty good idea of where it wants to go in terms of set-up and Shovlin even thinks there is more in it. "Neither driver has the balance where they want it yet and both felt the car was a little easier to drive in the morning," he continued.

In FP1 Russell and Hamilton set the first and second fastest times, but in FP2 they had to put up with the Ferrari drivers. "In the afternoon, we were understeering in some places and lacking stability in others. Not major issues but ones we are going to need to put right overnight if we plan on giving Red Bull and Ferrari any trouble tomorrow," concluded Shovlin.