Lewis Hamilton is capable of winning again and finally sees some ground against George Russell in qualifying: Andrew Shovlin explains the record world champion’s problems
In the life of a 104-time Grand Prix winner, there are naturally not many firsts in Formula 1. But the victory at the British Grand Prix, which was just as long awaited after a long dry spell, was just such a first for Lewis Hamilton: although it was his ninth victory at Silverstone, it was his first with the new generation of ground-effect cars.
The fact that this does not necessarily seem to suit the record world champion is not only proven by the figures of the last two and a half years, but is also revealed by Mercedes Chief Engineer Andrew Shovlin ahead of the next appearance in Budapest: “Lewis has not hidden the fact that Saturdays were his toughest days, but he actually has difficulties with this whole generation of cars, which does not suit his style,” says the Briton.
Shovlin reveals: “He has worked on how he drives. But we had a lot of work to do to make the car faster – it just wasn’t fast enough – and also to get the balance right so that the drivers could attack on one lap on Saturday. We have made progress with this.”
As a result, Hamilton is now finally closer to Russell in qualifying, against whom he currently trails by 2:10 in the qualifying duel. “George has always set the bar very high, since he came into Formula 1 he has been very impressive, even in the Williams, where he has also shown some good qualifying sessions,” recalls Shovlin.
Shovlin: Hamilton’s long run pace was always there
But Hamilton is still the most successful qualifier of all time with 104 poles – and with the improvements to the car, he is slowly showing his skills in this area again: “It’s great for the team that Lewis is back at the front and he will continue to push,” hopes Shovlin: “I’m sure we’ll see more pole positions from Lewis soon: “
According to Shovlin, there is a simple reason why the ground effect cars cause Hamilton problems, especially in qualifying: “He simply has difficulties with them, especially on one lap. His long run pace is always there. And that was also very helpful.”
Hamilton can compensate for many things during the race, but in qualifying it is more difficult for the Briton to get everything perfect in the short time available: “It’s more about how he wants to attack a corner. When he does that, the car jumps into oversteer – and the tire temperatures go up,” explains Shovlin.
The Mercedes engineer reveals: “A big part of our work was to give him a car that you can drive with this very attacking style and get the lap time out of it – without it breaking away on the way there and giving him surprises. “
