Why Mercedes finished at the bottom of the timesheet in Hungary
F1 News
- Toby McLuskie
Mercedes has a lot of work to do after the two free practice sessions in Hungary. Yet Andrew Shovlin does have an explanation for the inferior performance: namely, it copied Red Bull Racing's tactics.
A 16th place for Lewis Hamilton and 20th place for George Russell. These are not the places where the two Mercedes drivers can normally be found. Hamilton, therefore, complained afterwards about the balance of the car. That the German team would struggle at the Hungaroring was expected, but it was not that difficult. Shovlin knows what a lot of it is down to.
No major problems for Mercedes
''Most teams took a second set of tyres today, something we chose not to do. That's the main reason we don't feature higher up on the time sheets. The benefit will come in the learning for qualifying, where we have two new sets in FP3,'' the Trackside Engineering Director revealed after the final session on Friday.
Saving tyres is crucial this weekend, as teams have fewer tyres at their disposal over the entire weekend. Russell was therefore particularly disappointed with the revamped format after the session. Verstappen also drove on only one set of tyres during Friday's practice. Still, the long run data showed that Mercedes does have some work to do if it does not want to drop too far.
''There's plenty of work to do with the car balance on both the single lap and long run, which is useful as the field is looking very tight. We also have the challenge of different compounds in each segment of qualifying, meaning the out laps need to be adjusted continuously. We will review all the data tonight and see what we can do tomorrow,'' Shovlin concluded.
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