Make some noise for Merc
GEARBOXES: 37 POINTS IN THE BAG IN AUSTRIA DESPITE EARLIER ELECTRICAL INTERFERENCES
‘Horrible circuit allows overtaking and have violent kerbs’.
Following the first Austrian Grand Prix and the issue with the Mercedes gearboxes, I was intrigued by the comments of Andrew Shovlin, track side engineering director of Mercedes, during an interview with the official F1 website.
“It’s basically a build-up of electrical noise that starts to interfere with the various systems,” Shovlin explained.
“With Valtteri we saw that halfway through the race. It got progressively worse, and with Lewis it appeared later. This electrical noise affected many different things.
“Austria’s just a really horrible circuit for the cars,” he said.
“Normally you start the season somewhere like Melbourne, where it is difficult to overtake.
“When that is the case you can afford to look after your car and people are not going to get by.”
Is this the scenario most acceptable to the teams? Where passing is almost impossible and restricts the possibilities of overtaking therefore allowing drivers to preserve the car?
Thinking about it, there are a few circuits on the F1 calendar that meet such criteria.
The statement that it is “a really horrible circuit” must have gone down well with the circuit owners, organisers and local fans.
He described the circuit as one “where it’s quite easy to overtake if you don’t push hard and use the kerbs, you are at risk”.
Sounds like a description of a lot of race circuits used on a regular basis by many drivers.
Fact is, you will probably lose position if you fail to “push hard”.
Shovlin then explained that it was the kerbs to blame, describing them as “very violent and you spend a lot of time running on them”. Is this not referred to by all racers as the fastest line?
So “electrical noise” was the issue threatening the Mercedes team, but then he spoke about the nearly 300 Celsius temperature, the thin air not giving as much cooling as normal and all the temperatures in the car were high.
It was a veritable plethora of problems for the Brackley team.
It is possible these faults were shared with the Mercedes powered Racing Point car of Lance Stroll.
Amazingly the track did not prove to be an issue for the rest of the field and provided great entertainment. One must ask was the circuit that “horrible” when the team came away with 37 points, the highest haul of the day?
Certainly last weekend’s trouble free one-two finish must have made the circuit a little more Mercedes-team friendly.
The good news was the extension of the 2020 F1 season with a second Italian race and confirmation of the Russian event. For the first time F1 will stage a round of the World Championship at the Mugello circuit to be known as the F1 Gran Premio della Toscana Ferrari 1 000 from 11 to 13 September, marking the Maranello team’s 1 000th Grand Prix.
Then it is the Sochi circuit between 25 and 27 September for the VTB Russian Grand Prix.
Great news for Silverstone, as the UK government confirmed quarantine exemptions for all involved in F1 for both the British rounds, waiving the 14-day quarantine period required. Once more the two races will be “ghost events” with a total absence of spectators.
The weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix was business as usual. I thoroughly enjoyed Saturday’s wet qualifying session.
As TV pundit Martin Brundle said, it was great to have a full track with every driver striving to set a time, not hanging around in the garages waiting for the opposition to show their hand. McLaren’s Lando Norris emulated Lewis Hamilton’s previous week’s indiscretion by passing Pierre Gasly’s Alpha Tauri under double waved yellows and also received a three-grid position penalty and two points on his license. This young driver is surprising many, following last week’s third spot on the podium. Norris fought back in Styria passing the Racing Points of Stroll and Sergio Perez for fifth spot in the dying moments of the race, a great drive.
Not a great drive from Charles Leclerc who, at turn three of the first lap, attempted to fit his Ferrari into a gap that did not exist.
His car left the ground and landed full on the rear wing of his team mate Sebastian Vettel – and it was all over for the Italian team.
After the race came the previously expected protest regarding the Racing Point “Pink Mercedes”, the protest lodged by Renault.
This led to the seizure of several Racing Point components, specifically the front and rear brake ducts by the FIA Technical Team, to be used as a comparison with the 2019 Mercedes W10.
In addition, Mercedes-AMG F1 has been ordered to provide the same components from last year’s car for FIA technical analysis.
Watch this space.
Not a great drive from Charles Leclerc