Mercedes lift lid on secret codes used during Formula 1 races
Mercedes have dismissed the idea Antonelli's win was just down to luck (Photo: Race Pictures)
11:25, 19 Sep
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Connor Andrews is Formula 1 and MotoGP writer for GPblog and various outlets. Having worked in motorsport for 15 years for leading companies, he has interviewed the sports biggest names and attended multiple Grands Prix.
Mercedes have revealed how a series of secret codes are helping them beat the competition in Formula 1.
The German manufacturer are currently on course to win the constructors' and drivers’ championships, with Kimi Antonelli leading the latter by a massive 81 points from teammate George Russell.
Mercedes have mastered the new set of regulations, but they’re also rolling back the years from their era of dominance by flexing their genius when it comes to strategy.
Last time out at the Spanish Grand Prix, Antonelli was able to capitalise on a Lance Stroll crash, pitting under the Virtual Safety Car, leaving race leader Lando Norris helpless.
McLaren and Norris argue that they couldn't have done much differently, having just passed the pit entry, but Mercedes' speed of thought also put them one step ahead of their rivals.
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Norris fumed at his bad luck, but Mercedes think there was more to it (Photo: Race Pictures)
Mercedes change secret F1 codes every weekend
And now, trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has revealed that the team uses secret codes to alert their drivers to such opportunities during a race.
Speaking on Mercedes' NU Silver Arrows Radio Show podcast, he said: "We try not to let all the other teams know what those codes are. So, we change them every single week.”
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Yet despite McLaren’s bad luck, it turns out that Mercedes didn’t just experience good fortune, but also used supreme skill.
Antonelli slowed before VSC was deployed
Once Stroll crashed, Antonelli went around 15 km/h slower than rival Max Verstappen through the corner after Mercedes alerted him that he was within the safety car window.
He then delayed getting back on the throttle in the following section despite green flags being waved, and Shovlin thinks that extra communication and time were crucial in making the call to pit.
"He might have got in without it, but it certainly made it possible," he argued.
There were 35 seconds between the initial yellow flag and the VSC deployment, while just 15 seconds elapsed from the VSC being called to Antonelli reaching his pit box.
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Mercedes had tyres ready within seconds
Mercedes had both sets of tyres ready for Antonelli and Russell, demonstrating how quickly the team had reacted to the developing situation. Shovlin added: "The tyres were arriving as he was stopping."
Race leader Lando Norris, by contrast, had already passed the pit entry when the VSC was called, a gap McLaren estimated at just two seconds.
The revelation that Mercedes actively prepared for and exploited that narrow window adds a new layer to the ongoing VSC rule-change debate.
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Mercedes' coded preparation makes it harder to argue the Spanish Grand Prix result was simply a product of good fortune, and instead part of the tactical fine margins that F1 thrives on.
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