Shovlin insists Mercedes are favourites for remaining races – “Swings are still big”

Andrew Shovlin has insisted that Mercedes are the favourites for the remaining races, and said that Mexico was a disadvantage.

Mercedes conceded points in both championships after the race in Mexico. Max Verstappen extended his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to 19 points, while Red Bull slashed the deficit to the German team to a single point.

The upcoming races will be held in Brazil, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. There are no clear advantages for a particular team like there was in Mexico, so favourites will be hard to determine.

Nevertheless, Shovlin insisted that Mercedes are the favourites for the remaining races, and said that they will be strong for the ones coming.

“It’s difficult because normally this far into the season you see the performance settle down a bit and the swings are still big,” Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director said, as quoted by motorsportweek.

“There will be circuits that will suit us, we had very strong races in Turkey and Sochi and plenty of strong races since the summer break.

“So it will be up and down. We’ve definitely got out work cut out, on balance they are a little bit ahead of us but it’ll get affected by the weather, the track temperatures, those will play a part.

Mercedes adamant upcoming tracks will suit W12
Mercedes will look to be the fastest in the races that remain. Source: motorsportweek.com

“But the bigger thing will be the circuit characteristics. It seems when we’re on an understeery track we tend to go a little bit better, and then at the last two races, it was very much about rear tyre overheating, and it’s quite clear they have the advantage when we’re in that situation.”

Samba

Shovlin predicted the front row battle to be close, and stated that external factors will play a big role.

“The weather inherently is very unstable there,” he continued.  

“You can have 50-degree track one day and it can be a washout the next. I think if it is a hot circuit it’ll probably move it in their direction, a bit of cloud cover may well suit us.

 In Brazil, that should be less of an issue, but it’s very hard to predict, and like coming here, we’ll look at the weaknesses of our car and work out how we can minimise them,” he concluded.

Read more: Wolff throws Bottas under the bus after latest Mercedes mistake – “That should not happen”

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