Mercedes found the problem: "Will work on that all night"

Mercedes was a lot stronger during the first session of Friday's GP in Australia than in the second session. According to Andrew Shovlin, this has to do with the temperature which was a lot lower during FP2. The team has to work hard.

Vicious circle at Mercedes

With the changes to the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne a number of corners have become a lot faster, requiring a lot of grip. Mercedes seems to have a lot of trouble with that grip. Shovlin calls it a vicious circle between the drivers and the car. The tyres are not warm enough. In a press statement the Mercedes chief says: "We have to work hard on that tonight. We were a lot more competitive in FP1 than in FP2 during the cooler conditions. The data also shows that we are just not warm enough."

Shovlin thinks things should be a lot better this weekend once the temperature problem is solved, but, "At the moment we are in circle where the drivers don't have the confidence in the car to go through the corners at full speed, while we need that very speed to warm up the tyre."

In Brackley, the team is working hard to find a solution to the problem. Shovlin is keeping his fingers crossed and hoping for the best.