Andrew Shovlin saw that Mercedes was also not involved during the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Germans are still struggling with problems that ensure that the team is behind the times for the second year in a row, and that is unacceptable, according to the Briton. He is happy with the way the team is dealing with the setback and he sees that there is good cooperation between the staff and the drivers.
Shovlin admitted to Sky Sports that Mercedes has not had a good weekend, and that the team again has a long way to go after last year’s drama, in which the gap to Red Bull Racing after years of dominance suddenly turned out to be large. “It was a very difficult Sunday. The gap to Red Bull is huge and we also have Aston Martin and Ferrari ahead of us. We clearly have a lot of work ahead of us and we need to go back and come up with a plan to try and find improvements.”
The porpoising may have been resolved, but the team now mainly has problems keeping the tires in good condition. “We lack grip and on a track with high degradation like this, the drivers couldn’t do anything to attack. But it’s encouraging to see how the team works together and how well the drivers work together,” the engineer still manages to get positive points from the lesser time the team is going through.
Regroup for Saudi Arabia
Nevertheless, it is unacceptable that for the second year in a row the team starts the season with a big deficit, the Brit believes. “However, this is the second season that we are behind and we have no illusions that this is not acceptable for our team. We have a few days to regroup and improve for Saudi. We will work together to make sure the next race is better than this weekend.”
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