© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin says the team has two engines to choose from for Lewis Hamilton’s car, and the “less powerful of the two” was used in Qatar.
After taking a fantastic win at the Qatar Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton is gearing up for a close fight in the final two races of the season.
Andrew Shovlin says the Saudi track should suit Mercedes’ car, but Lewis will also get some help from a “more powerful engine”.
“We’ve seen pretty big swings of performance over the recent races, [but] if we look at the track in Saudi, I think it should suit us,” Shovlin said.
“For Lewis, we have got the more powerful engine to go in the car, so that’s going to give him a useful engine.”
The engine in question is the new one that Lewis received at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Shovlin explains that Mercedes elected to use the less powerful one in Qatar.
“There are two [power units] that we are racing. Here we had the less powerful of the two in the car, due to the nature of the circuit.
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“So that side of it is in a good place at the moment.”
However, the Briton warns that Mercedes cannot get complacent.
“The track should suit the car, but then we would have probably said in Austin that we would have felt that we should be able to put together a decent set-up and take the fight to Red Bull, and they had a bit of an edge there.
“So we’re always cautious to go to a race thinking that it’s all going to go our way. What we do know, though, are the things we’ve got to get right on the set-up, what we need to get right on the tyres and how they’re working.
“And that’s what we’re going to be busy doing over the next few days, making sure we’re taking every possible opportunity to arrive there in good shape.
“With a new circuit, arriving in good shape is such a big thing from the learning curve, if you’ve got a good car to start with, you can just improve it from there,” Shovlin concluded.
