Shovlin frustrated to see Lewis miss out on Pole

Andrew Shovlin had his drivers finish in P3 and P11 respectively as Lewis Hamilton piloted his Mercedes to the second row of the gird, while George Russell's Mercedes has been battling problems since FP1 and was the eventual cause of his Q2 exit. 

Shovlin opened the press release with "It was a session that got our hopes up at times, but in the end frustrating to see Lewis miss out on pole by just 0.05s having been quick all evening and George knocked out in the second session, after struggling with a brake issue from the start." The Brit clearly saw potential for more this weekend even that everything was pointing Mercedes' way on Friday, although perhaps a reality check was given in the first session of the day "We didn't have a strong final practice and were finding it hard to get the tyres in the window"

"The way the track dries here is unusual, the humid conditions and lack of wind make it a rather slow process and that meant it was difficult to predict when we'd get the transition to dry." Shovlin continues reflecting what we've heard from most of the paddock post-session. "The longer run on slicks at the end seemed to give a good balance between having the tyres in the right window and time to learn where the grip was; the lap was looking very good but he grabbed a brake at T16 which was enough to be the difference between pole and third place." is what Shovlin commented on Hamilton's lap before concluding positively as always with "So we'll continue to fighting hard for that first win of the season.