Mercedes think they have fallen behind Ferrari in development

Mercedes Formula 1 team chief engineer Andrew Shovlin thinks that his drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell no longer enjoy the tire performance advantage over Ferrari they relied on earlier in the season.

According to Shovlin, one of the big improvements for the Italian team in recent weeks, apart from their speed, is the handling of the tires during the races. At the beginning of the season, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz also showed a high pace in one lap, but they wore out their tires very quickly, which did not allow them to fight for the top positions on Sunday races. In the last few starts, however, this trend has not been noticed and the Scuderia has begun to melt away its liability from Mercedes in the dispute for second place in the team standings. Before the final six rounds of the year, the difference between the two teams is only 20 points, and at the beginning of the summer break it was 56 in favor of Mercedes.

More on this topic:

George Russell crushes the competition to grab pole in Vegas

“I think the performance deficit we had in the fast corners in qualifying cost us in the race,” said Shovlin, speaking of the Japanese Grand Prix. from the pressing. We seem to have been passive in this regard.

“Ferrari have brought in a new floor, so maybe they have progressed. But if we look at the last races we will see that the relegation advantage that we had earlier in the season is no longer there,” Shovlin added.