With his win in Mexico on Sunday, Max Verstappen gained a 19-point lead over Lewis Hamilton at the top of the F1 drivers’ standings, marking his second victory in three weeks.
Red Bull also cut the lead in the Mercedes constructors’ championship when Sergio Perez finished third and reduced the gap to just one point four races to go.
Red Bull has enjoyed a speed advantage over Mercedes in the last few races, so the German manufacturer is eager to react to this this weekend in Interlagos.
Shovlin noted that there were still big fluctuations in performance between Mercedes and Red Bull, which was unusual for so late in the season after his team dominated Turkey just three races ago.
“You can usually see the performance calm down into the season and the fluctuations are still big,” said Shovlin.
“There will be routes that suit us. We had very strong races in Turkey and Sochi and many strong races since the summer break. So it’s going to be up and down and we definitely have a lot of work to do.
“I think the bottom line is that they are a bit ahead of us, but that will be influenced by the weather and the track temperatures – it will all play a role.
“But the biggest thing will be the track characteristics and it seems that we tend to ride a little better on an understeering track.
“The last two races have been mainly about the overheating of the rear tires and it can be said that in this situation they have the advantage that we have seen in the last two weeks.”
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12
Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
When asked what the pecking order might look like in Brazil, Shovlin said it would “depend a little on the weather there” as it is “inherently very unstable” in Interlagos.
The track has hosted a number of wet races, most notably in 2008 and 2012 when the Brazilian Grand Prix decided the championship of rainy weather thrillers. The last rain race in Interlagos was in 2016 when Hamilton took the win and
Shovlin felt warmer conditions would likely work to Red Bull’s advantage, similar to race day in Mexico, but the weather was impossible to predict.
“You can have a 50-degree trail one day and it can be a washout the next,” Shovlin said.
“I think if it’s a hot track it will probably move them in their direction. A bit of cloud cover may suit us, but one of the advantages they had.” [in Mexico] Were they able to increase the downforce from the rear wing to their maximum output wing?
“But for us that’s actually what we normally drive. It’s just that your car seems to have more downforce than we do on identical wings, and I think that played in your favor.
“In Brazil that shouldn’t be a problem, but it’s very difficult to predict.
“Very much like we come [to Mexico] We’re going to look at our car’s weaknesses and see how we can minimize them.
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