Mercedes is hopeful the work it has been doing to enhance its tire administration will enable it to be extra aggressive at a wider vary of tracks, following its victory within the Singapore Grand Prix.
George Russell delivered a powerful weekend in Singapore to take pole place and win the race, incomes his second victory of the season. Mercedes has historically struggled in larger temperatures underneath the present set of technical rules, however profitable on a avenue circuit the place tires can overheat is an indication of progress that it hopes to hold by way of the remainder of the season.
“Now we have been doing lots of work on taking care of the rear tires, notably at these tracks the place they get a really punishing time,” trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin mentioned. “The air may be very scorching in Singapore. There’s additionally an terrible lot of traction. final 12 months, 2024, we did battle within the race.
“It’s good to see the advantage of a few of that work that is been happening right here on the manufacturing facility over the course of the event of this automobile. And hopefully we’re seeing a progressive development the place both when the solar is shining and it is extremely popular otherwise you get these circuits the place there may be lots of traction, we’ll begin to be aggressive.”
Regardless of the robust efficiency, Shovlin identified the similarities in observe traits to Canada – the place Russell additionally gained this 12 months – and emphasised that he would not count on Mercedes to be the workforce to beat subsequent day out at COTA.
“Simply to attempt to handle expectations right here,” he mentioned. “For those who take a look at the circuits that we have been robust at, and notably the races that we have gained this 12 months – Montreal, Singapore – they’re comparatively low-speed tracks, and there isn’t any doubt that this automobile is working effectively at that slow-speed nook area the place we appear to have excellent grip. The drivers have gotten excellent confidence within the massive braking zones.
“What we’ve not had a lot of in these tracks is the high-speed cornering content material, and that is maybe an space the place we have struggled a bit. We’re nonetheless engaged on that, we’re nonetheless attempting to search for each little bit that is there in setup, however that is definitely one thing that is coming. For those who take a look at a observe like Austin, it is bought a really, very quick sector one, so we want to verify we are able to carry out in that space.
“It was encouraging to see that the automobile can nonetheless win races, we noticed a superb efficiency from George, the entire workforce has actually been fired up from this and that is given us lots of power to take into these last six races. [There are] very completely different circuits developing, we’ll should do loads to adapt the automobile, however we’re undoubtedly not going to surrender the struggle.”
