While the world championship team was forced to see title rivals Max Verstappen triumph on a day when Lewis Hamilton’s tire strategy didn’t pay off, it still sees cause for encouragement.
Especially on a race weekend when Red Bull had the competitive advantage, the fact that it was able to push its competitors so hard was a big plus.
Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin says Austin’s performance was more encouraging compared to what happened at the Dutch Grand Prix, where Verstappen was in a class of its own.
“It’s the toughest we’ve had in a long time,” said Shovlin over the US GP weekend. “Since the [summer] Break likely, only Zandvoort felt as heavy as this one.
“On Sunday Max let us beat, but I think it wasn’t a comfortable win for them and we forced them to take some risks. So if this is a bad race for us we can hopefully have more of it.” the good ones and then we can still be in a decent position. “
Given the different track characteristics that seem to favor the Red Bull or the Mercedes, Shovlin suspects that on tracks that are better for his car, the advantage over his rival is greater.
“I think the pace we showed in Turkey and Sochi, especially in terms of race pace, is likely to take us a little further than here,” he added.
“Quali was tricky here and we managed to do it with one car in the front row. But it will really depend on how the cars do in the remaining races and who adapts well. The encouraging thing for us was we can still put pressure on them when we clearly didn’t have the best car. “
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, 2nd position, arrives at Parc Ferme. at
Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
While Austin has been a happy turf for Mercedes in the past, given the emphasis on placing on the rear tires, the team wasn’t too surprised to find it was a tougher weekend this time around.
“We were aware of the areas we might have to struggle in,” he said. “As I said, we struggled with the rear at Zandvoort and they seemed to be in a better position.
“That experience at Zandvoort made us concerned about coming here and we knew the track would be one where the tires would overheat.
“We’re not really going into any of these races to fill out a table of where we’re going to be fast and where we’re going to be slow.
“We know what we need to get our car right and we know what we need to do to get the tires to the right window and we know the homework we need to do on a Friday to get in the Able to be. ” these calls exactly.
“That’s where the focus is, and when you look at Mexico in the past it was a track that suited them and the Honda engine.
“But regardless, we still have to come up with a car that gives the best possible performance of the car and give Lewis and Valtteri a car that allows them to do their best job. That’s the only thing we are.” We’re not really working on where Red Bull is. “
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