In the round-up: Mercedes say they still need more relevant running to understand their most recent upgrade package.
In brief
Mercedes hoping for “clean laps” in Brazil
Mercedes’ head of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin said they didn’t gain as much knowledge of their latest upgrade as they expected to in Mexico as their drivers spent a significant part of the race in traffic, most of which as they fought each other.
“We’ve definitely got some useful data and what we’ve seen from the update to date is that it is delivering performance where we expect, certainly in terms of the loads that we’re measuring and also the pressures that we’re measuring on the aerodynamic surfaces,” he said in a video released by the team. “So that all seems fine.
“What we were hoping for that we didn’t get to the full extent was a sort of clean run with both cars where they’re in clear air where we can see how they performed through the race.”
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell swapped places three times during the race. “Lewis was quick off the line,” said Shovlin. “He got in front of George but he was struggling with his balance in stint one.
“We corrected that for stint two but then he had George ahead of him, who’d had his front wing issue, that flap that had failed. So then the two cars spent an awful lot of the race in traffic, which does affect your analysis.
“But what we’ve collected, yes, it’s useful, yes we can say it is performing more or less as expected, but we’re going to continue learning into Brazil and hopefully get some clean laps, some good running with that update kit.”
Sauber hire Ferrari strategist
Sauber have hired former Ferrari strategist Inaki Rueda as their new sporting director. In other changes at the team, which will become Audi in 2026, Giampaolo Dall’Ara has been named head of race engineering and long-time team member Beat Zehnder will become director of signature programs and operations next year.RB signs F4 winner for F1 Academy
Rafaela Ferreira, who has won two of the 15 races in the Brazilian Formula 4 championship this year, will join RB’s F1 Academy team next year. She lies fourth in the standings with nine races remaining, including three supporting the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos this weekend.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Links
'Our thoughts go out to those affected by the extreme weather conditions in Spain. Due to damage to the main access road caused by a burst river bank nearby, the circuit is currently inaccessible by vehicle.'
Photographs of some of the damage to the circuit.
Leupen exits Toyota role with immediate effect (Sportscar 365)
'He will officially exit Toyota at the end of the year but his operational role within the team has been suspended with immediate effect.'
We always endeavour to credit original sources. Got a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport? Please send it to us via the contact form.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Social media
Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
#F1 #MexicoCityGP on ABC attracted the 2nd-largest audience in race history
🏁1.4M viewers (peak 1.6M) for race-only portion of telecast
🏁Nearly identical to record '23 audience (down 3%)
🏁503K avg. viewers P18-49, up 6% over '23Next: #BrazilGP
Sun | 11:55a ET | ESPN2, ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/t72hHQf8FH— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) October 29, 2024
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
Why did Red Bull move Liam Lawson to F1 more slowly than other drivers on their junior programme?
If Red Bull thought that Lawson were a candidate for the Perez seat, they would have put him in the RB much, much earlier.
Instead of Lawson they tried to get Herta, then put De Vries and Ricciardo in the seat. Does this really seem like Lawson is Red Bull’s next great thing?
@Uzsjgb
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Gqsm, Jon Finn, Pejte and Alokin!
On this day in motorsport
- 25 years ago today Mika Hakkinen won the world championship for the second time, at Suzuka
Jere (@jerejj)
31st October 2024, 7:07
So from the next round onwards, Sauber’s strategies will be similar to how Ferrari’s used to be for a while.
Admittedly, COTD makes a valid point. If Red Bull indeed truly desired him as Checo’s direct successor, they definitely should’ve replaced Ricciardo much earlier, if not even given Lawson a full-time drive for this season already so that he would’ve driven the entire season by this point rather than only two GPs.
He’d also have had even more opportunities to show his worth, & gain experience towards the next season opener.
Herta (even though he ultimately didn’t materialize), De Vries, Ricciardo, & even Colapinto if certain rumors are to be believed, which I doubt, so he’s already been overlooked before preference-wise & could once again, not to mention based on those rumors, Colapinto would directly replace Checo & therefore, even jump Tsunoda who’s been racing in F1 since 2021.
SteveP
31st October 2024, 7:34
Yeah, it’s sort of worrying for Sauber – then you realise they can’t slide much further back anyway.
notagrumpyfan
31st October 2024, 11:32
One wonders how much (racing) strategy work there is for a team with cars typically ending last ;)
But of course Inaki will not be the Strategy Director, but rather replace Zehnder as Racing Director which is quite a different role.
Doh
31st October 2024, 13:00
Maybe they think Lawson is actually quite good so they delayed him… I mean they don’t seem keen on pairing max with a good driver
notagrumpyfan
31st October 2024, 7:13
If the ‘next great thing’ is not available, then taking a (marginal) improvement is the best way forward.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
31st October 2024, 10:00
I guess Lewis will get more time as test mule then. Makes for a great excuse as to why he cant overtake his teammate down the straight without ridiculous pace advantage.
Doh
31st October 2024, 13:02
My takeaway is that mercedes is washed. They’re still experimenting after 3 seasons and they need such specific scenarios to move forward.
I’m also a bit annoyed they’ve been experimenting the last few races since a better mercedes would make the title battle much closer. They only finished 10 seconds behind leclerc on Sunday
Asanator (@asanator)
31st October 2024, 13:22
They only finished 10s behind LeClerc on Sunday as he made an extra pitstop to go for FLAP.
Aquila_GD
1st November 2024, 6:34
Its quite clear that even after 3 years they do not know how to correlate upgrades with reality. No doubt that the upgrades have not made the car better as they hoped.