Mercedes has to find a new set up: "Slower than Red Bull on the straights"

Andrew Shovlin looked back on this year's sixth Mercedes victory. The Trackside Engineering Director explains why Max Verstappen seemed to pose a threat during the Belgian Grand Prix and how the German race team dealt with that danger.

"It's another great result for the team. The safety car was a bit earlier than we'd have wanted, which made it difficult to get the hard tyre through those last few laps," says Shovlin in the Mercedes review. "In the early part of the second stint we thought it was close between a one and a two-stop, but seeing the degradation on the hard, we realised that Verstappen on the two-stop would be a significant threat."

Around lap 25 Verstappen was just over a second away from Valtteri Bottas and that made Mercedes decide to give up tyre management for a few quick laps. "That caused us to get both drivers to drop the tyre management and put some quick laps in. They were both able to build gaps that meant we could cover if Red Bull did stop." It didn't come to that in the end, because Verstappen opted for a one-stopper.

Because Lewis Hamilton and Bottas had just started a few laps, they had a hard time in the closing stages. "But overall though, it's been a good weekend for the team. The car hasn't had the same pace we've enjoyed at other tracks this year, particularly in qualifying, but the team has done a good job to get the most out of it and we've operated well throughout the weekend," he continued.

Shovlin knows that there is work to be done for Mercedes in the run-up to Monza. "We need to find a lower drag set-up as we're behind Red Bull on the straights already and the latest technical directive from the FIA on engine modes is going to cost us time in qualifying. But the team will be working hard in Brackley and Brixworth over the next few days to try and stay ahead."