“Definitely going in the right direction,” Andrew Shovlin reveals Mercedes has a clear route back to challenging for wins in F1


“Definitely going in the right direction,” Andrew Shovlin reveals Mercedes has a clear route back to challenging for wins in F1

Mercedes W-13

The Mercedes team has not brought their A-game during the 2022 F1 season, and currently, is in a no-mans land in the third position in the Constructors Championship.

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However, despite the disappointment of the current campaign, Mercedes Head of Trackside Engineering, Andrew Shovlin has shown optimism and indicated that the Silver Arrows are not far from contesting for pole positions and race wins regularly.

Mercedes has spent most of the 2022 F1 season dealing with the issues on the W13, which have popped every now and then, and while the team has looked in better shape recently, most of the damage was done during the first phase of the season where the team’s package was so bad that they were forced to fight in the midfield pack.

The current campaign is 20 races down and has only got 2 races remaining on the calendar, moreover, Shovlin was recently asked to dwell on the progress of the team, and while responding he added, “We haven’t done a good job, because we went from a situation of winning consecutive championships, winning all the championships there have been in the hybrid era, to being a long way off the pace when we started the year.”

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Mercedes W13
Mercedes

We’re honest with ourselves, we didn’t do anything like a good enough job, and Ferrari did a much better job, and Red Bull did a much better job. [But] where I think we have worked well is to understand what went wrong, to try and recover some of that ground.”

The position we were in maybe in the first third of the year, we were firmly in the mid-pack, we were being beaten by cars that six months ago we were lapping, [and we’ve progressed] to get to the point that we’re in today. We’re not the fastest car, we’re not where we need to be, but it does feel like we’re now in the race with the front pack.”

Andrew Shovlin’s take on the commitment level of Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes

Andrew Shovlin
Andrew Shovlin

Lewis Hamilton has been with the Silver Arrows for several years and is the vital cog around whom the team operates. Moreover, the Brit has recently made his intention clearing of staying with Mercedes beyond 2023, and Andrew Shovlin has appreciated him for the effort that he puts in every day.

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While stressing Hamilton Shovlin added, “Lewis is always working hard, super motivated, and desperate to try to win. I think, going from the competitive position that we’ve had in the preceding years, to a really difficult car at the start of the year, was a bit of a shock for him.”

[It was] also a bit of an adjustment for us to get used to working… effectively racing in the mid-pack for a lot of the early part of the year, having to make a lot of compromises with the car to try to get the best out of it, and then learning at the same time.”

Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton

I think, the same as us as a team, Lewis can also see that we’re definitely going in the right direction. We can see a clear route to getting back to a point where we can challenge for pole positions and wins.

You can see with Lewis’ commitment to the team, that’s increasing, the closer we get, and his commitment to putting in the work on his side to try and help us achieve those goals.”

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Andrew Shovlin has made it crystal clear that Lewis Hamilton is committed to the Mercedes team and wants to bring the outfit back to the glory days of the past.

Lewis Hamilton (IMAGO / HochZwei)
Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton has come tantalizingly close to scoring a win in recent races and considering the optimism that Shovlin has oozed ahead of the Brazilain Grand Prix, Mercedes is going to throw the absolute kitchen sink in the remaining races and it will be fascinating to see how the team will perform against Ferrari and Red Bull.

Who among the top three teams would be able to bring the curtain down on the 2022 season with a race win to its name?

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