24/08/2025 16:35
Mercedes' Andrew Shovlin has explained how its rear suspension
upgrade was awaiting test results whilst it was being used
on-track. At Imola, a new design was introduced, but since the
start of the European season, Mercedes' performance has tailed off,
with only one podium since it started, for George Russell in
Hungary. Kimi Antonelli's form has also suffered as a result of
the difficult W16, which had the offending suspension removed for
the Monaco and Spanish GPs before it was reintroduced in Canada,
where the team scored a one-three result. Boss Toto Wolff has
explained that the Imola upgrade "will end in a bin somewhere" as
trackside engineering director Shovlin gave further details about
the difficulties the team has faced with the parts. "At the time it
came in, we had some issues in the laboratory work we were doing
that meant some of the test results were arriving quite a bit after
it had run on track," Shovlin told media , including
RacingNews365. "We certainly had it under the microscope at that
point, because it was off the car in Monaco and Barcelona, and then
we reintroduced it for Montreal. "Now, in a way, that might have
been inconvenient that we reintroduced it at our best race weekend
of the year, and we're still going through the data from lab
testing to understand what it was [that was wrong]. "The reality
is, if we prove that there is a problem, we will learn from the
experience, as it is always quite difficult to make suspension
changes to existing components because everything is a compromise.
"But if that is the case, then we will learn from it and it will be
useful in our knowledge of making the next car."
