Shovlin warns Red Bull: "Plenty of scope within Mercedes power unit modes"

Mercedes had two positive results from the first two free practice sessions on Thursday. Especially in terms of speed over one lap. Andrew Shovlin, trackside engineering director of Mercedes, talks about the first day of the first race weekend of 2024. Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen commented about some teams running with higher engine modes, but Shovlin warns Mercedes have "plenty of scope".

"Following the test we were most concerned about our single lap pace," Shovlin said. "We had both drivers in the simulator before returning here. From the running today, it looks like we have improved. We're certainly not getting carried away, as there is plenty of scope within power unit modes and fuel loads for several cars to find a chunk of time before tomorrow. It's encouraging though that the picture we had last week seems to have improved."

George Russell said that while Mercedes was close to McLaren, Ferrari and Aston Martin during the long runs, Red Bull was still slightly faster. Shovlin confirmed this: "The long run data also looks close. Verstappen is still comfortably out front, as we saw last week, but behind him it's going to be a tight battle for the remaining podium spots."

He continued: "We know we've got plenty to fine tune on the balance. It's still early days with the W15, and we're learning how to get lap-time out of it with each run, but it's already feeling very different to the last two years that we have been here."