Mercedes aims to secure driver and constructor titles for an unprecedented eighth straight season if Lewis Hamilton beat Max Verstappen in the grand finale this weekend in Abu Dhabi.
The momentum was at Red Bull during the America portion of the season, with Verstappen winning in Austin and Mexico, and Hamilton’s disqualification after qualifying in Brazil put the title chances strong in the Dutchman’s favor.
Since then, Hamilton has won the last three races to be level on points with Verstappen in the championship, while Mercedes is 28 points ahead of Red Bull.
After the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, Shovlin said: “There is a lot” [of energy]. It feels a bit like a long run and all of a sudden you see the finish line and get the thrust that you can take a gear up and cross the finish line, and I think the whole team feels that at the moment.
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“Lewis brings a lot of energy and focus to the team, it’s absolutely inspiring to see what he’s done in the last few races and what he’s struggled with. Where we lost points in difficult races in Austin and Mexico, that only changed our goal. The goal was that we have to win every race.
“We did three out of four, but like I said, we know exactly what to do and we just have to lower our heads and do the work it takes.”
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In 2020 Max Verstappen dominated the Yas Marina Circuit in front of Valtteri Bottas.
In particular, it was Hamilton’s first race back after missing the Sakhir Grand Prix due to coronavirus.
Shovlin believes Red Bull had the faster car at last year’s Abu Dhabi GP because Hamilton wasn’t in the best of physical shape and Mercedes didn’t perfect the car setup.
“In terms of who has the benefit, Lewis was a few days after a COVID attack last year, so there is no way he has done his best – it’s not easy to get over – and our post-event analysis that “We do that after every race, which suggests that we just placed the setup in the wrong place,” he explained.
“We had development tires there, we focused on them – ironically, we won the championship and decided to try to understand the tires instead of focusing on the race weekend. In the end, we went into the race unprepared with a car that was not well balanced and I think that ended up costing us.
“We had a lot of good races in Abu Dhabi, but we are concerned about the unknowns. There are a lot of new areas on the track, we’ve seen a pretty big jump in performance – tracks that we thought we were competitive like like Austin, we weren’t good at all. [In Jeddah] We saw Red Bull put clean heels into us on a single lap.
“So we have to worry a lot and then we have the fact that the tires are the softest and they can be really tricky at times, they are pretty hard to get in the window. So let’s treat it like a new route. We know what to do, we have to go there and win. “
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