© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Toto Wolff says Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin “figured out” the W15 had a “mechanical issue” in Belgian Grand Prix free practice.
Ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, Mercedes announced numerous upgrades for the W15, among them a new floor.
However, after disappointing Friday free practice sessions, the team decided to ditch the upgraded floor for their previous spec version.
While the improved performance was not obvious in Qualifying, in the race the team managed to pull off a fantastic 1-2 victory.
Unfortunately the original race-winner George Russell was disqualified after his car failed post-race checks due to being underweight.
However, there’s no doubt that Mercedes was dominant in the race, which was a stark contract to how they performed on Friday.
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After the race, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff surprisingly explained that the team’s lack of pace on Friday had nothing to do with their upgrades.
“We were nowhere – we changed a few things on the car and today we were clearly ahead of everyone,” the Austrian said.
“We didn’t think it was possible [to one-stop] but we were going to finish fifth in both scenarios said let’s stay out…”
“We were expecting at best a podium – but the car worked well on one-stop and two-stops.
“Overnight Friday to Saturday, Shov [Andrew Shovlin] our Chief Engineer said: ‘I’ve figured out what it is, I don’t think the new floor was bad.’
“What we realised overnight was we tripped over on a mechanical issue,” Wolff concluded.
