Mercedes engineer: 'Verstappen is now clearly a very mature, smart racer'

Reward for hard work

After the winter tests it didn't look good for Mercedes, but the championship team has recovered in recent weeks. Mercedes engineer Andrew Shovlin agrees. "Everyone has worked extremely hard since the test. We knew we had a lot of work ahead of us, but today was a nice reward for all the extra hours everyone has put in", he says in a Mercedes press release.

It turned into a close battle for the win between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, with Verstappen driving fast towards the world champion at the end of the race on newer tyres. "We honestly didn't think we would win, but Lewis did a great job with his tyre management and his defence," said Verstappen.

Exciting championship

Shovlin believes it will remain close for the rest of the season as well. "It's great to walk away here in the lead of the championship, but we're under no illusions that this will be anything other than an incredibly difficult championship to win. We've made good progress over the past week, but Red Bull have the better package at the moment and if we don't improve, our lead could be short-lived."

No more strong points on Red Bull

Last years Mercedes clearly had some strengths over Red Bull Racing, such as straight-line speed, but those days are over according to Shovlin. "We don't really have any strong points compared to them. We haven't actually really gained any time on them anywhere," he told Motorsport.com.

According to Shovlin, Mercedes and Red Bull are currently neck and neck. "I think it's going to be a difficult year. They are a sharp, well-focused team that doesn't make many mistakes. Max is clearly a very mature, very clever racer now and he's hard to catch - and they're developing well. It's going to be exciting but we're not going to give up. And they will tell you the same thing."