Mercedes frustrated after weak sprint: 'Can only adjust a few things'

The Mercedes team had a disappointing sprint race in Brazil. Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell had good opening stages of the race, but after only a few laps it was clear that the German team could not handle the tyres well enough. Andrew Shovlin sees few reasons why his team will be competitive in Sunday's Grand Prix, although there is one bright spot.

Mercedes disappoint in sprint race

A strong Mercedes was expected ahead of the weekend because the German team did so well at Interlagos last year, winning both the sprint race and the main race. However, after the sprint, it looks like a win is out of reach. Shovlin does know where things went wrong during the short race on Saturday: "That was not a good race for us today. We likely pushed a bit too hard early on and it took a few laps to realise that we simply didn't have the pace to race for a top three position. That hurt the tyres and caused us to suffer from high levels of tyre degradation in the closing stages."

Mercedes can make a little adjustment

On a sprint weekend, drivers and teams have only one practice session to tune the cars. After practice, the cars go into the so-called parc fermé, and a change in set-up is forbidden. Only minor things like the front wing can still be adjusted. "We know that we've got what we've got in terms of the setup and that there are only a few tools to play with to make improvements. We therefore know that making a big step in performance for tomorrow is out of the question. However, there are a few things we can use to balance the car and there's clearly a bit to learn about how we use the tyres across the stint," explained the Mercedes chief.

Yet Shovlin also sees a bright spot. "It might be a little cooler tomorrow [Sunday] and that could help; not so much that the tyres will be in a drastically different operating window though. It's, therefore, imperative we can make progress overnight if we're to avoid another tough race on Sunday."