Mercedes: "Perhaps Red Bull's car is not made for these circuits"

Due to the hurried qualification in Q2 Lewis Hamilton had to start on the softest red band during the Russian Grand Prix. This put the reigning world champion at a disadvantage to Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas, who both had to start on the yellow medium. Because of the softest tyre Hamilton also had to go in early, which made a third place the maximum possible.

"The left rear tyre was really at the limit," explains Andrew Shovlin to Autosport. "There was very little rubber left on the tyre." Shovlin explains that Hamilton's ten-second time penalty also failed to help determine strategy. "He could only do a few laps on that tyre and if he suddenly lost grip it could have happened that the drivers in midfield on the medium tyre would have made up time.

Isn't Red Bull fast in particular?

"So it was very important that we were able to minimise the number of cars we had to overtake". Shovlin also explains that they expected more pressure from Red Bull Racing in Russia. "We never actually go to a circuit where we say we are strong. It's about the speed of the cars around us. It seems that our car works well in many places".

"We know that Red Bull said that Russia is a circuit for the Mercedes, but we don't really know why we had so much speed. Maybe the circuit just wasn't made for their car," Shovlin asks out loud. Verstappen managed to qualify second, ahead of Bottas. Shovlin explains that the Dutchman had a better chance if he could start from third place. "Third on the grid is very good. It's equal to the second spot on the grid, maybe even better", Shovlin concludes.