F1 | Alarm at Mercedes: "Our car is too fragile"

The victory of Valtteri Bottas a Zeltweg did not hide some defects within the Mercedes, particularly related to reliability. For much of the race, both the Finn and Hamilton were called upon to manage their respective W11s in an obsessive manner. Various electrical problems have been found on multiple systems inside the machines. Very similar difficulties for the two cars, and the problem is unlikely to recur next weekend again at Zeltweg.

“Congratulations to Valtteri and the team for the weekend in Austria – said Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes' chief engineer. He rode very well all weekend and deserved the victory. The race was quite tough: we had some problems over the three days which are causing an accumulation of electrical problems on the various systems, and halfway through the race both cars went into difficulty. Our goal was to bring them to the finish line, so we tried to make the two drivers understand not to overdo it on the curbs and to calm down the power unit a bit. The first stint was quite simple: Valtteri had to extend the gap to Max and Lewis was catching up. In the accident with Albon we thought enough space had been left to stay on the track, so it was disappointing to receive the penalty, but sometimes these things happen in the race."

“The timing of the Safety Car coming out wasn't great for us: we would have been able to get the two cars in, but we didn't want to have the thought of overtaking given the vibrations, so it would have been too risky. We'll review everything before next Sunday. We could have done a better job of keeping Lewis on the podium, but when Valtteri slowed down for the yellow flag on lap 69, he panicked a bit. Anyway - concludes Shovlin – our car is very fast, but too fragile at the moment. We don't have much time to solve the problems, and since the track will be the same next weekend, it will be a gamble! In the coming days we will work hard to resolve these issues. On a positive note for the fans: it will be unlikely that the second race will be a copy and paste of the first."