Shovlin follows Mercedes ethos of being disappointed

Andrew Shovlin, the trackside engineering director for the Mercedes AMG F1 team, follows what we've heard from others within the organisation today of being disappointed in the result of qualifying, which saw the teams cars in P5 and P8.

Sunday is key for Mercedes

The Brit spoke in a press release put out by Mercedes, "We're disappointed with the final positions as we were closer to the front in the first and second session but ultimately we didn't get the laps together when the conditions were at their best. We'd backed both cars off on the penultimate lap thinking we'd push at the end but the rain picked up a little and we just didn't have the pace. However, we have seen signs of progress with the car over the weekend that are keeping us encouraged.", The director looks to take off some of the blame from the drivers, putting the costly final session down to weather effects. 

"We made a few changes overnight and the drivers were both much happier with the high-speed performance in final practice earlier today." Shovlin adds as he looks forward to the race tomorrow. "We're still optimistic that we can bring home some good results tomorrow. The fans have been brilliant all weekend and we'll hopefully be able to give them something to celebrate tomorrow."