Lewis Hamilton F1 News: Mercedes to run failed upgrades at Dutch Grand Prix

Thumbnail for article regarding Hamilton on Friday in Belgium — Photo: © IMAGO

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Hamilton to run FAILED Mercedes upgrades at Dutch GP

Are Mercedes chasing a lost cause or pursuing perfection?

Jay Winter

Saturday 3 August 2024 10:57 Updated: 11:24

Lewis Hamilton will drive a Mercedes at the Dutch Grand Prix featuring upgrades that have previously been scrapped by the team.

Mercedes claimed victory at the Belgian GP, firstly with George Russell before he was disqualified and his team-mate inherited the win, but the Brackley-based squad made major changes to their car throughout the weekend.

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Mercedes have revealed that the updates they brought to the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps, including a modified diffuser and a revised underfloor for the W15, will be given another opportunity to prove their worth in Zandvoort.

Despite failing to improve the car in Belgium, and not being used in the race, these updates are set to be tested again, as explained by Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes' trackside engineering director.

Hamilton faced bouncing issues during free practice in Belgium

Mercedes opted to run without the upgrades for the race

Mercedes' scrapped upgrades

Mercedes faced unexpected issues during the Belgian GP weekend. According to Shovlin, the problems were primarily related to the car's setup rather than the updates themselves.

"We encountered some issues that we believe were mainly due to the setup and not the updates," Shovlin stated in a Mercedes video update.

"We gave the drivers a car that tended to bounce in fast corners, which is not good for their confidence."

Additionally, the car struggled with stability on corner entry, making it challenging to brake late and carry speed through the turns.

Given these challenges, Mercedes decided to revert to the previous W15 specification used at Silverstone, where they had a successful race.

"Spa and Silverstone are quite similar in terms of corner speeds," Shovlin noted.

"It was the right decision to revert to a known specification."

Russell and Hamilton will be looking to continue Mercedes' form

Despite the setbacks at Spa, Mercedes are confident in the potential of their updates. The team have been investigating the issues, and believe they have identified the root causes.

"We have been working on understanding exactly what went wrong," Shovlin continued.

"We are quite confident that we can reintroduce the Spa update at Zandvoort."

Lewis Hamilton Mercedes George Russell Dutch Grand Prix Belgian GP Andrew Shovlin