According to Andrew Shovlin, track-side engineering director, Formula 1 Mercedes Team thinks that overheating of tyres could occur again in this week's Spanish Grand Prix.
Earlier, Formula one champion Lewis Hamilton and his team mate Valtteri Bottas of the Mercedes team lost pace in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix due to blistering of tyres, resulting in them barely able to finish the race with podium positions. Andrew Shovlin has warned that similar situation should be expected in the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix.
Andrew Shovlin stated about the race and the tyre conditions in his debrief on Mercedes’ YouTube channel. He admits that the tyres of their cars heat up abnormally whereas other teams have been able to manage their tyres.
Shovlin mentions that, “the big issue for us on Sunday was just that our temperatures were clearly hotter than others, “We were having to slow down to control it and that was fundamentally where we lost our pace in the race. We were getting the centre of the tyre very hot."
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He added, “Now, the issue is that when it gets hot, it starts sliding and it generates more heat, the pressures go up and you end up with a bit of a vicious circle, where you are losing grip and keeping it under control becomes harder and harder as you go through the stint.”
The forecast mentions that the temperature that is heat is going to be high this week in Barcelona hence Shovlin stated that there was a significant chance of the occurrence of the same problem in this week's Spanish Grand Prix. He stated that the team hopes to use the time they have left in figuring out a solution to the heating issues.
He mentioned- “I think we’d be foolish to say that we are not going to see this problem again and we are not going to see it in Spain.
“So, we need to be looking at solutions and if we can make good progress this week, in the next few days, try and understand exactly the nature of our problem and why we were so much worse than the others. Then I’d like to think we can get on top of it for Spain.
“Hopefully we won’t see it again, but I think Spain will be a good test of whether we have made the progress that we need to.”
