F1 News: Mercedes Engineer Director Identifies "Significant" Vegas Challenges - "We Ran Through Tests"

The team gained a deeper insight into the challenges coming in the way.

During FP2, Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin conducted tests to gain a better understanding of key issues anticipated for the event, such as warm-up and graining of the tires. Despite these challenges, the Mercedes drivers thoroughly enjoyed navigating the W14 F1 cars on the newly-constructed track.

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell got their first taste of the Las Vegas street circuit during FP2, as FP1 was canceled within ten minutes after Carlos Sainz's Ferrari hit a drain hole cover that damaged his car significantly.

Listen To The Latest Driven Mad Podcast Episode

Consequently, drivers were given an extended 90 minutes of running in FP2 as the cars blasted around the Strip. Clearly, the Mercedes drivers had a great time in their cars, as both drivers revealed. 

The seven-time world champion finished P9 after watching a film in between the two practice sessions. He told Sky Sports F1:

“We’re travelling at some serious speeds out there.

"It’s incredibly fast and it’s a lot of fun – I had so much fun today.

“I’m so glad we did get to run again. They did a great job to fix it and it was an interesting session.”

Teammate Russell finished P12 and offered a similar review of his session. He said:

“It’s a very fast circuit, the highest top speeds of the year probably, and obviously racing at night is pretty spectacular.

 “I think it is going to be an interesting race weekend.”

Talking about the tests the team ran to better understand the issues, Shovlin offered a technical insight into what's working and what needs to be improved. He added:

"It was good to get running again in FP2 and we were able to complete most of our programme. Ahead of the event, we'd identified warm-up and graining as being the most significant challenges that we would face. We ran through a few tests to today aimed at further understanding those issues.

"The track grip was evolving rapidly, which was helping the car balance come together through the session. We know we’ve got a few areas that we can look to improve in terms of that balance and long run pace too.

"It's clearly a very tight field as is becoming the norm this year. Every little bit of performance we can find ahead of Qualifying is going to be useful. It's also good to have a bit of time now to pick through the data ahead of FP3 this evening.

"Overall, we've got off to a decent start and we'll hopefully be able to build on that as we go into Qualifying and the Grand Prix."