Mercedes explains the deciding factor to Lewis Hamilton, who flashes Max Verstappen in Brazil | F1 | Sports

Mercedes track engineer Andrew Shovlin believes the win in Brazil was thanks to Lewis Hamilton’s tire management team after the seven-time world champion stormed to victory at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Hamilton experienced a weekend roller coaster ride in Interlagos and received three different penalties, including a disqualification.

After setting the fastest time in qualifying, the 36-year-old was called to the commissioners for the first time on Friday evening when questions arose about the legality of the Mercedes rear wing.

Unaware of a problem, Mercedes and Hamilton fought around their corner in a night investigation, which ultimately led to the seven-time world champion being kicked out of qualifying.

This meant that the sprint race had to be started from the end of the grid, with his main competitor Max Verstappen ahead.

But an unstoppable Hamilton made his way through the field, made up 15 places in 24 laps and landed on P5.

Relegated again, this time only five places due to an engine change, Hamilton turned a start from P10 to victory after a tense battle with Verstappen for the lead.

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The pair almost got tangled on lap 48 before Hamilton finally sealed the deal 10 laps later, with plenty of life left in their tires, and Shovlin believes this was a big factor in the win.

“The important thing is that we saw that we can sit behind a car,” said Shovlin. “We were able to make a good turn 12. We had good traction. And those are the ingredients you need to be able to overtake here.

“But the other factor was that at least Max had a much higher degradation and the tires ran out early. And one of the key factors was that Lewis could follow. He could push Max. Max couldn’t save his tires, and that was really the deciding factor – tire wear and Max’s fall. “

The team decided on a fifth internal combustion engine [ICE] Put Hamilton’s car before qualifying on Friday.

Although team principal Toto Wolff believed Mercedes made the change due to reliability issues, Shovlin felt it wasn’t.

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“There was no technical reason to switch because we didn’t think we were in danger of failure and we didn’t think we were in danger of failure,” said Shovlin. “Although, you know, these engines run really hard and reliability can never be taken for granted.

“But there is an attraction to receiving a penalty in a sprint race, because if you win on Saturday you can get more points and reduce a gap.

“On this track too, we hoped that we could overtake and gain positions. We have proven that in the last two days. “

Verstappen leads the last three races of the season with 14 points ahead of Hamilton in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi.

And with an additional ICE unit to choose from, Shovlin said, that was a major advantage over Red Bull.

“You want to get these things in the pool because when you get to Abu Dhabi you won’t benefit from more than a single race,” added Shovlin.

“There are a number of reasons – and it’s never black and white, because you don’t know how the weekend will go. But in retrospect, I think we chose a good route for it. “