Formula 1: Hamilton Decided To Use An Upgrade Only On Russell's Car At Monaco GP

Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin: Mercedes have had a poor first half of the 2024 Formula One season. Seven races into the season, the Mercedes team is sitting in fourth place in the Constructors' Championship whereas George Russell and Lewis Hamilton are sitting in seventh and eighth place respectively in the Drivers' Championship.

The Monaco Grand Prix saw the team make some much-needed changes as they brought a circuit-specific, high-downforce rear wing, a new floor body, and a front wing to Russell’s car but not Hamilton’s.

“We are looking to have race quantities of that wing [for the next Grand Prix] in Montreal and normally you would say race quantities is at least three because you have got one for each car and then you have got a spare available should anything happen."

"We do not make three in one go. We make the first, then the second, then the third. An upshot of that was that we had one that we could bring to Monaco and have it ready for Friday to do the weekend,” said the team’s Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin.

He went on to reveal it was Hamilton’s decision to let George use the upgrades at the Monaco Grand Prix and further went on to say they could alternate when it comes to single updates.

“Lewis said, ‘If we are going to start doing this where we have not got enough parts, let George run it in Monaco, there will be races in the future where we have a single update and of course, we just alternate from here on in.’ But Lewis made that decision quite simple for us,” he added

The race saw George Russell finish fifth in the standings ahead of Max Verstappen whereas Hamilton finished seventh at a circuit that has historically been known to be one of the most challenging tracks on the F1 calendar. Shovlin went on to say they will be monitoring how the upgrades work out in the upcoming Montreal and Barcelona Grand Prix.

“There is a reason teams do not normally bring update kits to Monaco, which is the very low-speed nature of the circuit. The fact it is so busy, the short straights, it is very hard to actually evaluate anything.

“All the data we have seen says that it was delivering performance, it was bringing a benefit in terms of how the car was feeling. George was happy with that, and he could feel that it was a step in the right direction.”

“We are happy with what we have seen to date, but we will learn more in Montreal and then particularly when you get to a track like Barcelona with a wider corner speed range, you can really start to learn about it there,” he concluded.