One thing I like about Mercedes, among the many things actually, is that after each race they do a video where they discuss the strategy and results. It’s terrific content and this week’s episode is no different.
Mercedes trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin, said the team are taking a long look at why they are struggling getting off the line as quick as the Ferrari’s:
“We are doing a lot of work here this week trying to understand that, because we know fine well that if we qualify on pole we have got to get off the line as well as the Ferraris and that is what we will be trying to do in Hockenheim,”
What I found more interesting was the comment about the possible damage that Lewis Hamilton thought he felt in his car after being hit by Kimi Raikkonen and dropping back to 18th.
“We didn’t have much damage at all,” said Shovlin. “It was quite a big impact and we were pretty lucky to get away with it.
“The reality though was that you heard Lewis complaining about damage to his floor.
“We thought that there might have been some aerodynamic damage but that was just from running in the turbulent air of all those cars ahead when he was having to fight through.
“It was only when he got into clear air, and he could feel what the car was like and we could see his pace, that we were able to really understand that the damage was very, very minimal.”
With teams and broadcast commentary suggesting that the track produced a serious disturbance in the air for trailing cars mandating a distance of 4s when following, I found it interesting that this is what Lewis was feeling instead of a damaged car.
I have a question: Is betting on the Formula 1 Championship similar to Commodity Trading- because I’d like to change my order to a Put Option.
Ricciardo also blamed the turbulence for why he couldn’t pass Bottas late in the race even though Bottas was clearly wounded: “We tried at the end to pass Bottas as he was struggling more with the tyres but as soon as I got really close to him I felt like my tyres were the same age as his, you just lose the downforce and really struggle.” I also have my suspicions that Ricciardo may have also had a business decision in the back of his mind. It would have been pretty reasonable to decide that he’d rather just settle for… Read more »