F1 News
Shovlin happy with Russell and Hamilton results: 'Encouraging day'
- Toby McLuskie
Mercedes has had a rather difficult time getting the most out of the W14 this Formula 1 season, but the first day in the Netherlands worked out well for the team. Lewis Hamilton was particularly good in the first two practice sessions after the summer break, as he landed inside the top four in both sessions. Andrew Shovlin is positive about the performance today.
"The second session was quite clean, the medium tyre was working well but we've got room for improvement on the soft, neither driver felt that they got the best from it so that's something for us to work on overnight," Shovlin said in a Mercedes press release.
"The long runs were okay, we need to find a bit of consistency but the pace looks to be there and the balance is reasonable. Overall, an encouraging day," he continued.
Mercedes with 'encouraging' day
The timing of Hulkenberg's red flag in the first practice session was not ideal for Mercedes, Shovlin explained. "We had quite a few test items in the first session which meant we were running new tyres a bit later than normal, as a result, the red flag was quite inconvenient to us as we were trying to use new tyres when most of the field was on race runs."
Mercedes is second in the constructors' title standings and has built up a lead of more than 50 points. Sunday will show whether this lead over Aston Martin has grown or shrunk.