Andrew Shovlin, Engineering Director of the German team, reiterated that the first two free practices for the British GP were positive and praised Mercedes' pace in the race simulations
The British GP weekend started with hope for Mercedes. After a TL1 where almost nothing happened due to rain, the German team showed promise of good performance at Silverstone: seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton had the second best time in the second F1 session on Friday (01).
Unlike what usually happens, when the German team itself makes a point of using the press to lower performance expectations, engineering director Andrew Shovlin made it clear that Friday was, yes, extremely positive for the Silver Arrows.
"It really feels like we've taken a step forward, because we don't normally stay on top in the Friday sessions. But I suspect we'll see more from Ferrari and also a little bit from Red Bull, but the work with the long sequences was encouraging," he said.
"Normally, we see that the gap to the front pack is half a second or so on the long sequences. Today, that wasn't the case. It's probably a bit of the circuit being favorable for the car, but we have a lot of work ahead of us - like, for example, in the kicks," Shovlin added.
It was precisely during these long sequences on the track, when the drivers perform race simulations, that George Russell could be happy with the performance of his W13 - even if the result was not such a good one. This is because Mercedes informed the driver by radio that he was "on the same pace as Ferrari.
Still, it's not all flowers for the German team. Shovlin pointed out that the problem of the kicks - contrary to what Toto Wolff said - still exists and is bothersome. However, the bouncing due to the stiffness of the W13 is easier to solve, which gives hope for the silver team - according to the engineering director himself.
"The bouncing of the car at high speed exists at the moment, but hopefully the improvements have taken us in the right direction. In turn 9, we had difficulties, as well as in 15. But these are all things we can look at in the engineering room to try to get more time out of the car," Shovlin analyzed.
"When you trust the car, then there is plenty of time for us to improve on hand - because you know the rear will hold. There are some things we want to try tomorrow to hopefully lose some more lap time. We've been very aggressive from the start here, and there's more to come," he finished.
GRANDE PRÊMIO follows LIVE and INREAL TIME all the activities of the British GP weekend. On Saturday, TL3 opens the day at 8am (GMT-3), while qualifying starts at 11am.