Lewis Hamilton is hoping to make a comeback at the US Grand Prix after colliding on the opening lap of the Qatar race with Mercedes team-mate George Russell.
Mercedes was concerned about the high-speed performance of its cars ahead of the United States Grand Prix.
Austin is the next stop for the Formula 1 circus – the second of three US races this year. And it’s another sprint weekend, which means teams that make the most of the weekend will get more points.
This larger reward causes teams to work even harder. And that’s exactly what Mercedes will have to do as they battle for second place in the drivers’ and constructors’ championships. A single practice session on Friday will give all teams a very limited window of time to get their cars into their respective optimal tuning windows. And Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ racing technical director, has particular concerns about how the W14 performs at Circuit of the Americas.
How do we get to Austin? Well, it’s a very different track,” he said in a video released by the team. “It’s an aggressive tarmac, it’s very easy for the tires to overheat and our concern is probably about performance at high speed.” This is where Red Bull and McLaren look particularly strong.”
But Shovlin added that there are some features of the COTA track that Mercedes hopes will suit their cars. “There are a lot of low-speed corners and in Qatar we did really well in the low-speed corners [last weekend],” he added.
“It’s difficult to know exactly where we will stand out, but our aim is to get there and hopefully get a podium. We’ve got a very good chance to put both of our cars podium in Qatar, but I hope we can do it. I will fight for the podium in Austin.”
To achieve this, the Mercedes drivers will need to avoid a repeat of Sunday’s first-lap horror show. Lewis Hamilton, starting on softer tyres, attempted to overtake teammate George Russell in the first corner, but caused a collision that sent the seven-time world champion onto the gravel and out of the race. racing. Shovlin explained that an unfortunate strategic decision led to this collision. He say:
“As George had a very good start on the softs the day before – it also went very well during the safety restart – we chose to start Lewis on the softs due to the grip. better. Lewis is also hard to disqualify on soft tires There is a disadvantage in terms of range.
“We discussed the choice of starting tires with both drivers on Sunday morning and there was always the possibility that Lewis, on the soft tyres, would get a better start and pass George before turn 1. This was always the case. considered, but they knew they were pursuing different strategies. “It was important that they didn’t lose time in the race and that’s clear, but we didn’t impose team orders throughout the race. What happened at Turn 1 was simply a mistake.”
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