Vowles: "Didn't have enough speed to keep up with Verstappen"

James Vowles has been explaining how Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton lost so much time to Max Verstappen during the last part of the Styrian Grand Prix.

Vibrations

For example, Hamilton complained about vibrations during the race. In the Youtube video on Mercedes F1's official channel, Vowles said: "It was due to two very different reasons. We had blisters on the front tyres. This was because the tyres were struggling and working at high temperatures. However, it's not something that could have been a problem or that we were concerned about."

Vowles continued: "On the rear tires, we had, as we call it, 'pick up'. Every car leaves rubber behind from the tires, and when we drive through that old rubber with hot tires, the tires get heavier and heavier and that causes vibrations."

Not the speed

So although Hamilton complained about this on the on-board radio, Vowles is honest about this argument: "So although we had two different problems with the front and rear tyres this wasn't really something we were concerned about, and to be honest this wasn't the reason Lewis lost so much time to Verstappen. We simply didn't have enough speed to keep up with him."