“We pushed it a bit too far but it was a useful learning exercise,” Andrew Shovlin on Lewis Hamilton’s set up at Jeddah

“We pushed it a bit too far but it was a useful learning exercise,” Andrew Shovlin on Lewis Hamilton’s set up at Jeddah

Mercedes at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton failed to make it out of Q1 on Saturday for the first time since the 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix and for the first time on pure speed since the 2009 British Grand Prix.   Mercedes has found it difficult to adapt to the new technical regulations, leaving the consecutive eight-time constructors’ champions as the third-fastest team behind season favourites Ferrari and Red Bull.

On being asked of Hamilton’s dramatic Q1 exit, Mercedes team engineer Andrew Shovlin replied, “Well, there’s a few reasons but fundamentally, we don’t really understand the car yet as well as we do it at the end of the year, we’ve only had two races with it. So, we are always exploring the setup with Lewis, trying to find a direction that delivers performance and we’d found a good direction from Friday into Saturday that he was able to try in the third practice session.”

Shovlin also highlighted on how they went a bit further into the qualifying session at the fastest circuit of the world-the Jeddah Corniche Circuit which ultimately was a bit too far. Hamilton was supposedly lacking rear grip and for a street circuit like Jeddah which asks for a lot of confidence from the drivers, the lack of rear grip instilled low confidence in the 7-time world champion.

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“We need to make a quicker car as soon as possible” : Andrew Shovlin

Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton

With 103 pole positions, Hamilton holds the record for the most in F1, with Michael Schumacher coming in second with 68. With an improved setup, newly recruited Mercedes driver George Russell made it to the final sector of qualifying and queued up sixth on the grid, qualifying ten positions ahead of his record-breaking teammate.

“Ultimately, we pushed it a bit too far but it was a useful learning exercise. Fundamentally though the problem right now is the car is not fast enough and unless we get it perfect, we are going to be at risk in those sessions,” added Shovlin.

The Brackley-based racing team will be looking forward to getting back to winning ways in the next Grand Prix on the 2022 calendar, the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park. Mercedes will also be hopeful to put up a tough fight against Ferrari and Red Bull who seem to have overshadowed the Brackley team in the first two GPs of the 2022 season.

Also Read: Andrew Shovlin concedes there is a “lot of everything” wrong with the new Mercedes W13