Mercedes reveals "that neither driver had good confidence in the rear end" after tough day at Spa
On the back of a challenging Saturday at Spa-Franchorchamps, Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has conceded that "neither driver had good confidence in the rear end."
In Saturday's sprint race, George Russell started from P13 on the grid, whilst his team-mate Kimi Antonelli lined up in P19 after both drivers were hampered in Sprint Qualifying on Friday.
In a quiet race, Russell made up one position to come home P12 with Antonelli advancing two positions to P17, leaving Mercedes with no points to collect.
Qualifying proved a tricky affair too with the car struggling for the pace needed to fight for the front two rows of the grid. In Q1, both drivers improved on their final efforts but Antonelli was knocked out in P18.
The four-time Grand Prix winner meanwhile progressed to Q3 but could only manage P6 on his last run.
Reflecting on the Brackley-based outfit's tough day at Spa, Mercedes' trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin stated: "That was another disappointing day for us here in Spa. We were looking to bounce back from a tough Friday, knowing that the big points were still on offer ahead of us.
"Starting from outside the top 10 in the Sprint, we knew that progress would be difficult to achieve. The low wing levels being run here result in a modest DRS effect and other than Kimi making one pass, we were unable to make any further overtakes.
"We made quite significant changes to our car for Qualifying but the underlying limitations were still there and neither driver had good confidence in the rear end. Kimi was eliminated in the first cut; George did a good job to get as far as P6 but it's clear we have to get to the bottom of the issues with the car as it simply wasn't quick.
Signing off with a word for the race, Shovlin noted: "We're expecting some rain for the race tomorrow. Considering our starting positions that's a good thing, and hopefully both drivers can move forward if we operate well, but our bigger focus is to understand why our pace has been so poor at this track.
