Shovlin: 'Hamilton and Russell are both going to have a tough race'

Mercedes engineer Andrew Shovlin knows what the team has to do to bring home a great result in Hungary on Sunday. Only it is not going to be easy. Lewis Hamilton has Max Verstappen breathing down his neck and George Russell is starting from P18.

Nobody expected Hamilton to take pole position at the Hungaroring beforehand. It is no less than the Briton's ninth pole position for the Hungarian GP. So there is no doubt that Hamilton is fast on the track, but the margin he had over Verstappen was only three thousandths of a second. That makes it very exciting for the race. Especially since Verstappen's long runs looked very strong.

Shovlin said in a press statement from Mercedes: "A lot of hard work has gone into improving the car over recent races and it's a sign that we're moving in a good direction. On the other hand, we let George down with how we handled his session. It wasn't good enough." Mercedes made a mistake in timing Russell's lap. The Briton was bothered a lot by other drivers on the track, preventing his fast lap.

Hamilton starts from P1, Russell from P18 and Shovlin predicts a tough race for both: "Max [Verstappen] looks to have been struggling more than normal for single lap pace, but his long run was very strong, as was Lando's [Norris]. George has a lot of cars between him and the points. We will need to look to offset on strategy to put him in a position where we can start making progress. It's going to be hot and if we are looking after the tyres well that will bring opportunity."