Mercedes knew Ferrari strategy wouldn't work: 'We had no grip on Friday'

Mercedes ended the first half of the season a lot more positively than they had expected. In Hungary they took the first pole position of the season for the team with George Russell and on Sunday both drivers were on the podium alongside Max Verstappen. Strategy proved to be the deciding factor, something that Mercedes have thought about for a long time.

In the debrief on the Hungarian Grand Prix, Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes' Trackside Engineering Director, looks back on the race weekend. When asked by a fan if a one-stop was being considered, Shovlin was clear. It was looked into, but Mercedes knew already after Friday that the hard tyre would be a drama.

No grip on hardest tyre

"The only way to do the one stop was to go on a medium and a hard tyre and on both of those stints you'd need quite a lot of management to get to the finish. We tried the hards on friday and it didn't have good grip." This while the track temperature was very high on Friday, in conditions where the hard tyre is more suited to its purpose.

On Sunday it was a lot colder, so Mercedes' engineers knew the hard tyre would not have speed. Ferrari, however, thought differently and put Charles Leclerc on the white tyre. As expected by Mercedes, the Monegasque had no grip at all and had to stop an extra time to get off the hardest tyre again.