Mercedes "at the very worst end" of tyre problems
Mercedes chief race engineer Andrew Shovlin admits that there's an "element of urgency" in the Brackley Formula 1 team's need to address its tyre blistering problems.

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were badly hampered by blistering in the 70th Anniversary GP, which compromised their pace and allowed Red Bull and Max Verstappen to score a well-judged strategic victory.
Shovlin said that a difficult 70th Anniversary GP showed that the team that it was at the "very, very worst end" of the blistering spectrum, and it now has days to resolve its issues or it risks looking "silly" in the Spanish GP in Barcelona, where hot conditions are expected.
"We knew that blistering was an issue," said Shovlin. "We knew that last week. We know what sort of temperatures that it will occur at. And so that wasn't news to us.
"What was news to us was we're kind of at the very, very worst end of that problem.
"And Red Bull appears to be at the very best end of that spectrum. And that's the thing that we need to understand. Because there's been other races where everyone's been in the same boat, but why are we an outlier? Right now, we haven't got the answer.
"And you know, there's an element of urgency here because we're in Barcelona, we're flying out there on Tuesday, running on Friday, it's forecast to be 30C, the track will be a bit like this. It's a high-energy circuit."
Read Also:
Shovlin conceded that the return to Pirelli's hardest C1 tyre in Spain may help the situation.
"If we don't solve it, you can probably hide from it a little bit on that C1 tyre. But we've still got to run the tyre that today was causing us grief, and that wasn't solving the problem for us.
"We've seen Red Bull, they're not that far off us in races, even when we're looking at our best. So I think to be honest, if we don't make progress, we'll be in trouble there as well. So that's kind of where this urgency to get a bit of a grip on it comes from."
Shovlin says that the team has learned a lot in the past from digging into disastrous races such as Singapore 2018 or Mexico 2018.
"When we've had those bad races, it's actually kind of taught us more about where the performance exists on the car.
"And some of them we've realised there's mechanisms at play that we didn't even know about that are quite critical, and they become sources of future development.
"So it's not to say that right now we've learned, because I think this is not a straightforward problem.
"This wasn't something that last year's car suffered from. And this year's car is, by and large, an evolution of last year's car. There's not any areas where we've really changed philosophy, we've just been pushing down the same paths for development.
"Right now, we don't understand what the problem is."
Related video

Previous article
Racing Point "99% sure" Perez will race in Spain
Next article
How Verstappen exposed Mercedes' key weakness

About this article
Series | Formula 1 |
Teams | Mercedes |
Author | Adam Cooper |
Mercedes "at the very worst end" of tyre problems
Trending
The tricky driver conundrums facing Mercedes in F1 2021
Ahead of the new Formula 1 season, reigning world champions Mercedes will take on challenges both old and new. This also can be said for its driver conundrum which could become key to sustaining its ongoing success...
How Alpine's cure to 2021 F1 rules starts at the front
A new name, new faces and new colours pulls the rebranded Alpine Formula 1 team into a new era while carrying over core elements of its 2020 car. But under the surface there's more than meets the eye with the A521 which hints at how the team will tackle 2021...
Can Mercedes' W12 retain the team's crown?
Replacing Formula 1's fastest car was never going to be an easy feat for Mercedes. Amid the technical rule tweaks to peg back the W12 and its 2021 rivals, the new Mercedes challenger will remain the target to beat
The pointed note that starts Ferrari's Leclerc vs Sainz era
Ferrari is starting its post-Sebastian Vettel age by welcoming Carlos Sainz in alongside Charles Leclerc. But while Sainz has a tough challenge to match his new teammate, Ferrari is also sending a message that previous intra-team spats must end
The mantra Ocon must follow to challenge Alonso at Alpine
OPINION: It's been an uneasy ride for Esteban Ocon since his F1 comeback - and fresh challenges lie in wait as he's joined by double world champion Fernando Alonso in the newly rebranded Alpine team. STUART CODLING sets out a roadmap to success…
Why Haas is willing to sacrifice its 2021 F1 season
Every Formula 1 team is facing the same difficult decision this season: how do you split precious aero development time between the current car and the all-new 2022 project?
The big questions of F1 2021 - Karun Chandhok
After an unprecedented season last year, there are plenty of questions and storylines for the upcoming Formula 1 campaign. Sky Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok gives his verdict.
How McLaren F1’s new investors have already made an impact
The deal McLaren concluded with MSP Sports Capital last year which will help the cash-strapped Formula 1 team pay for much-needed infrastructure upgrades, also points toward the future for F1 itself, says GP Racing's Stuart Codling.