Hi, I’m Andrew Shovlin,
I’m Trackside Engineering Director
and I’m here to answer your questions
about the Austrian Grand Prix.
The Soft tyre performed more
or less as expected, it was good
for a range of about 25 laps or
so, that was what we had
before the race and that
was what we saw on Sunday.
And it was surviving quite well in
the hot conditions. The reason
that we started both our cars on
the Medium tyre was that it just
gave you a lot more range. It could
go well beyond half distance in
the race, that would give us some
flexibility. We weren’t looking
particularly strong, so we weren’t
banking on starting this race from
the front row and we thought that that
flexibility would pay dividends around
the stop. It also meant that the final
stint of the race on the Hard tyre
wouldn’t be so difficult. The only
downside with starting on the Medium
for us was really the start line performance,
it’s a bit worse but not by so much
as a car’s length. But, those were
the main reasons that we took the
decision to go that way for the race start.
Why did we
have problems
with overheating?
Well, simple question,
it’s actually quite
a big answer but
fundamentally the car
doesn’t have big
enough radiators
and that’s something
that we were a
bit optimistic with
how much we
could get out of
the cooling system.
It’s underdelivered
to what we hoped
we could achieve, and
it’s meant that we
are carrying this
issue where in the
very hot races we
will be struggling
to keep everything
cool enough.
Principally to keep
the Power Unit
cool enough that
we don’t do
any damage to it.
You can increase
the amount of
cooling you get
out of the car by
opening up the
bodywork exits
and in Austria it
was 35 degrees,
that actually put
us at the upper
end of what we
could achieve
just by opening
the car up. So,
we were on limit.
When you get
to that point you
are really limited
in your options.
You can start
to use lift and
coast, which
is where the
drivers get
towards the end
of the straight
and they back
off the throttle.
They then brake
a bit later
and you have
a period where
the car is just
coasting into
the corner, the
engine is not
doing work and
you can lose a
fair bit of
temperature
like that.
But, as you
saw in the race,
we were having
to ask our
drivers to
increase that
to around
400 metres
per lap and that
is why they were
so compromised
on performance.
You can also
turn the engine
down a bit, then
it will generate
less heat, but
you’ve got less
power and you
are slower on
the straights. So, it
was definitely a
significant limitation
in Austria. We
are working on
systems, we
were working
on them before
Austria, to try
and improve this
problem and we
should be in a
better position.
But, it all really
goes down to
the fundamental
design of the car,
where in the push
for very, very
tight packaging,
we have ended
up being
undercooled overall.
What happened
with Lewis’s wing?
Well, he was
running on the
kerb at Turn 10
and the flap
adjustor broke.
That’s the thing
that we use to
change the
angle of the
flaps on the
left and right
side of the wing,
that changes
how much
downforce it
produces, and
this is one of the
main tools the
drivers and
engineers use
to balance the car.
They are trying
to put more load
on the front.
When it broke
on that kerb, it
drops down.
And it only
drops by a
few degrees,
but it means
that he has
got understeer
then in all those
fast corners.
Now, there were
two things we
were talking about.
One, do we come
in and we go
to the maximum
angle we can
achieve on the
other side to
improve that
balance or do
we change
the nose.
Well, we were
looking at the
readings we
were getting on
that wing, trying
to understand
if there was the
range to do it
just by adding
some more wing
on the other
side of the car.
And it was quite
clear that wouldn’t
be enough. So,
that was when
we had to take
the pit stop.
It’s about an
additional eight
seconds, but overall
that would’ve been
quicker for the race
as a whole because
he would’ve
otherwise been
slower by at least
half a second
a lap.
So, pit stop
practice, we
do that really
every day of the
race weekend and
the front wings we’ll
normally do a couple of
practice front wing changes
in each pit stop practice.
It’s not something that we
actually have to often do
during the races, we
probably only do one or
two a year in anger, but
they are difficult things to
get on and off. They are
quite heavy, they are every
big now as well and you are
having to coordinate that around
the wheel changes that are
going on. But, we make sure
the guys are well versed
in doing it so that when
we need to do one as we
did on Sunday we know how
long it takes and we know
that we can do it reliably.
The fastest lap we were
watching from quite some
time away. We could see
Vettel closing on Lewis, we
knew that it was a significant
risk that we were going to
get passed on track and we
also knew that it would be
very, very near the end of
race where this happens.
Now, the question here is
should we have accepted that
Vettel was going to overtake us,
come in for the stop anyway,
gone for fastest lap and get
the extra point. Well, if we
knew we were going to lose
the place then that’s of course
the right thing to do. But, Lewis
would’ve thought he could
battle with Vettel, we could see
he was quick, but you never
know how well you can
defend, you never know
what’s going to happen and
that was really the reason
we didn’t want to just give
up on that position.
Unfortunately, when Sebastian
actually overtook Lewis there
wasn’t enough time for us to
come in, get the tyres, get out
and actually do a flying lap.
We could’ve just done the
out lap and that wouldn’t have
counted for anything. So,
it was a point that we lost but
it wasn’t our biggest problem of
the day, but it is something we do
think about at the time.
Moving forward from a
difficult race. Well, we are
not sat here feeling sad and
sorry for ourselves. We have
got a very good car and a
car that can be competitive
at almost all of the circuits.
But, there’s a lot of work
to do. We’ve got a lot of
projects looking at this
particular issue with the
cooling, how we can improve
that. And that work started
well before the race weekend
in Austria and there’s a lot of
people here busy with that.
And we will get on top of
that and make progress. It’s
also a race where we still
scored decent points. Our
closest rival in the Championship,
Ferrari, we only dropped five points
to them, we still got a podium with
Valtteri, but we know that we can
do better. And perhaps our
biggest regret was that it was
a great race, we didn’t let
our drivers race in it, they
were just having to look after
the temperatures of the
Power Unit. And where we do
probably feel a little bit sad is we
just wanted to be part of it, fighting
at the front. And this was a Sunday
where we couldn’t do that.
Thank you very much for all
of your questions. We’re going
to be back in two weeks’ time answering
questions from the British Grand Prix.
