© Sam Bloxham for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
Andrew Shovlin says Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are not focused on “the fight between themselves”, but on “getting our car to a level where we can fight for wins, can fight for championships”.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were on different strategies at the Miami Grand Prix, and so at one point in the race, Mercedes asked Lewis to let George pass him, to be able to maximise his result.
This allowed George to ultimately finish the race in P4, while Lewis managed to go from P13 to P6, in a wonderful recovery drive.
In Mercedes’ Miami Grand Prix debrief, the team’s Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin explained why Mercedes asked Lewis to move over for George.
“We asked Lewis to let George go because they were in different races,” the Briton said..
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“Lewis was on the Hard-Medium strategy and George was on the Medium-Hard. They weren’t forecast to finish together but ultimately it gave us a better chance of a result with George if Lewis was happy just to let him go.”
Shovlin then explained their drivers are not focused on battling each other at the moment, but are working together to help the team get back to its old winning ways.
“Fundamentally we haven’t got the car that we want. We haven’t got a car at the moment that can challenge for championships, and both drivers are working hard to try and achieve that.
“Whether it’s seeing them cooperating on track or cooperating in the office trying to solve problems by trying to share information that helps us to develop, it is really useful that the two of them are focused on getting our car to a level where we can fight for wins, can fight for championships, and not worrying too much now about the fight between themselves,” he concluded.
