Motorsport Week
  • Formula 1
    • 2025 Formula 1 Calendar
    • 2025 Formula 1 Standings
  • Formula E
    • 2025 Formula E Calendar
    • 2025 Formula E Standings
  • IndyCar
    • 2025 IndyCar Calendar
    • 2025 IndyCar Standings
  • WRC
    • 2025 WRC Standings
    • 2025 WRC Calendar
  • MotoGP
    • 2025 MotoGP Calendar
    • 2025 MotoGP Standings
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
  • WEC
    • 2025 WEC Calendar
  • IMSA
    • 2025 IMSA Calendar
  • World SBK
  • More
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • F1 Academy
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
    • World Superbikes
    • Technical Insight
    • Galleries
    • About/Contact
    • Privacy Policy
No Result
View All Result
  • Formula 1
    • 2025 Formula 1 Calendar
    • 2025 Formula 1 Standings
  • Formula E
    • 2025 Formula E Calendar
    • 2025 Formula E Standings
  • IndyCar
    • 2025 IndyCar Calendar
    • 2025 IndyCar Standings
  • WRC
    • 2025 WRC Standings
    • 2025 WRC Calendar
  • MotoGP
    • 2025 MotoGP Calendar
    • 2025 MotoGP Standings
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
  • WEC
    • 2025 WEC Calendar
  • IMSA
    • 2025 IMSA Calendar
  • World SBK
  • More
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • F1 Academy
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
    • World Superbikes
    • Technical Insight
    • Galleries
    • About/Contact
    • Privacy Policy
No Result
View All Result
Motorsport Week
Home Single Seater Formula 1

Mercedes suspects ‘wacky’ set-up direction hurt race pace

by Phillip Horton
4 years ago
A A
0
Mercedes suspects ‘wacky’ set-up direction hurt race pace
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Mercedes believes its prospects at Formula 1’s Styrian Grand Prix may have been accentuated by trialling a “wacky” set-up direction that exacerbated tyre degradation.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen dominated the race from pole position, leading every lap, with Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas a distant second and third respectively.

It marked Red Bull’s fourth successive victory as it stretched its advantage over Mercedes in the championship to 40 points.

Mercedes’ engineering chief Andrew Shovlin accepted that the squad “didn’t have the fastest car” at the Red Bull Ring but suspects its chances were hindered by an explorative set-up.

RelatedPosts

The 2026 F1 season will see sweeping changes to the cars

Lance Stroll slams ‘sad’ F1 2026 regulations that drivers won’t criticise for ‘political reasons’

36 minutes ago
Carlos Sainz embraces heavy workload in mission to rebuild Williams

Carlos Sainz: Williams rebuild has brought ‘highest workload’ of F1 career

2 hours ago

“It is a difficult and quite peculiar circuit and Red Bull are normally strong here,” said Shovlin.

“But we were also exploring a fairly wacky direction with the set-up, as a radical approach which I think was maybe a bit better on a single lap, the question that remains is whether we hurt our degradation and we need to look at that.

“Lewis before he came [to Austria] was doing a lot of work in the driver in loop simulator and it looked like an interesting direction but an important part of this year for us is adapting well to every track and we do need to be a bit brave and original with set-up direction to do that.”

Shovlin explained that Mercedes’ initial analysis will look into “whether that [set-up] has made life more difficult for the rear tyres on the long run.”

Pirelli brought its C2, C3 and C4 compounds to the Styrian weekend but for this weekend’s Austrian round, held at the same venue, it has nominated the C3, C4 and C5 tyres.

Shovlin outlined that Mercedes’ work will focus on the same areas irrespective of the compound selections.

“Ultimately we were lacking a bit of race pace and were a little bit worse on degradation,” he said.

“So whether it is one stop on harder or two stop on softer compounds [for Austria] the solution will be the same – we need to make the car a bit quicker and a bit easier on the rear tyres.”

Tags: AustrianGPF1Lewis HamiltonMercedesStyrianGP
Share199Tweet125Share

Related Posts

The 2026 F1 season will see sweeping changes to the cars
Formula 1

Lance Stroll slams ‘sad’ F1 2026 regulations that drivers won’t criticise for ‘political reasons’

36 minutes ago
Carlos Sainz embraces heavy workload in mission to rebuild Williams
Formula 1

Carlos Sainz: Williams rebuild has brought ‘highest workload’ of F1 career

2 hours ago
F1 has had several new rookies on the grid in 2025
Feature

How have F1’s rookie contingent fared in 2025 so far?

17 hours ago
Load More

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Upcoming Races

#EventDate
13Belgian GP25-27 July
14Hungarian GP01-03 August
15Dutch GP29-31 August
16Italian GP05-07 September
17Azerbaijan GP19-21 September

Click here for the full 2025 F1 calendar

Drivers’  Standings

#DriverPts
Oscar Piastri234
Lando Norris226
Max Verstappen165
George Russell147
Charles Leclerc120
Lewis Hamilton103
Andrea Kimi Antonelli63
Alexander Albon44
Nico Hulkenberg37
Isack Hadjar28

Click here for full Drivers’ Standings

Latest Articles

The 2026 F1 season will see sweeping changes to the cars
Formula 1

Lance Stroll slams ‘sad’ F1 2026 regulations that drivers won’t criticise for ‘political reasons’

July 19, 2025
Carlos Sainz embraces heavy workload in mission to rebuild Williams
Formula 1

Carlos Sainz: Williams rebuild has brought ‘highest workload’ of F1 career

July 19, 2025
F1 has had several new rookies on the grid in 2025
Feature

How have F1’s rookie contingent fared in 2025 so far?

July 18, 2025

Follow Motorsport Week

Join our daily motorsport newsletter

* indicates required

Motorsport Week

© 2024 Motorsport Media Services Ltd

Other Links

  • About & Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Motorsport Monday

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Home
  • Formula 1
    • Latest News
    • 2025 F1 Calendar
    • 2025 F1 Championship Standings
  • Formula E
    • Latest News
    • 2025 FE Calendar
    • 2025 FE Championship Standings
  • MotoGP
    • Latest News
    • 2025 MotoGP Calendar
    • 2025 MotoGP Standings
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
    • World Superbikes
  • WRC
    • Latest News
    • 2025 WRC Calendar
    • 2025 WRC Standings
  • IndyCar
    • Latest News
    • 2025 IndyCar Calendar
    • 2025 IndyCar Standings
  • WEC
    • Latest News
    • 2025 WEC Calendar
  • Live Updates
  • Other
    • IMSA
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • F1 Academy
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
    • World Superbikes
  • Galleries
  • About/Contact
  • Privacy Policy

© 2024 Motorsport Media Services Ltd