"Fine margins": Mercedes engineer acknowledges battle to retain title

Lewis Hamilton had edged title challengers Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the Bahrain Grand Prix last week.

File photo. (Image credit: Twitter)
By Arnab Mukherji | Apr 3, 2021 | 2 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Mercedes will have a tough fight on their hands this season to win an eighth successive constructor’s crown and to help Lewis Hamilton win a record-breaking eighth championship. The defending champions were part of a nail-biting race at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix last weekend. Mercedes has been troubled by regulations that have cut downforce and they also cannot upgrade their power unit. Trackside engineer Andrew Shovlin said that he could not see the German carmaker develop to a point where they could get clear ahead and hoped that challengers Red Bull did not reach that point either. He noted that the championship would come down to fine margins owing to the new regulations. 

“Normally we would look to the wind tunnels to try to put on a bit of downforce during the course of the year and the power unit to try to find a bit of power. But both of those are very restricted by regulations so we have very little time in the wind tunnel, the dyno is also heavily restricted and you can’t develop the engine for performance this year,” he said. 

“We’re having to look at more subtle areas to do with driveability characteristics. Also arriving at the circuit with the car well sorted, well balanced, doing your homework, knowing how long the tyres will run.”

BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX

Both sides would be reliant on their star drivers, Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes and Max Verstappen to be the x-factor in the tournament. Hamilton edged Verstappen to win the Bahrain Grand Prix. 

Shovlin said that the team was anxious about tyre degradation as the race entered its final stages. Their simulation tools predicted that Verstappen had a degradation difference that would have been enough to overtake Hamilton. He heaped on praise for his driver, saying that he did an impressive job and managed the issue perfectly.

“The question was how much they [the tyres] would degrade. We figured our strategy tools were telling us that Max had a degradation difference that would be enough to overtake.

“Then as the race got into the closing stages the simulation tools were telling you that maybe he won’t but we were still looking at the battle on track thinking ‘He still looks awfully quick and it’s awfully close’.”