Mercedes is working on its weak spot: "We are losing time"
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Mercedes and Red Bull are very close to each other in the standings this season. Whereas Lewis Hamilton won the race in Bahrain, Max Verstappen was the fastest in Imola. The Mercedes team knows that this season will be about details.
Although Verstappen did an excellent race in Italy, things didn't go so well for Mercedes. A problem with a wrench meant Hamilton's pit stop took longer than usual, causing him to fall behind. Mercedes then fixed the problem on Valtteri Bottas' next pit stop, but by then the damage had been done.
Chief race engineer Andrew Shovlin tells Mercedes' Youtube channel that the team is working hard to improve pit stops, as the team realises it is behind Red Bull in that area. "It is fair to say that we are not the best. We lose time at the pit stops and have been concentrating on this area for a while."
Mercedes confident in pit stop
However, Shovlin doesn't think Mercedes should despair when it comes to pit stops and is confident of a quick improvement. "As I said, there were some specific reasons that bothered us in Imola. But in the long term we'll see what we can do with the crew and the equipment to get a bit more time out of the pit stops."