Andrew Shovlin ‘quite confident’ Mercedes part that failed at Spa will work at the Dutch GP

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Mercedes started the Belgian Grand Prix on the back foot after bringing their latest series of upgrades to the W15.

It was intended to bring a step forward in performance for the team, but after running them during practice on Friday they found that it impacted the confidence of both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

The main upgrades were made to the diffuser and floor of the W15, but while running them in practice the team found that it created the bouncing effect that their drivers have often complained about during this set of regulations.

Instead, they chose to revert to the older-spec parts used at Silverstone, where Mercedes managed to not only secure a one-two in qualifying but win the race on Sunday. This is because the British GP circuit has similar characteristics as Spa Francorchamps, with a mix of high-speed corners and straights.

Although the specification change ultimately enabled them to be competitive in the race, it was cited as one of the reasons why Russell was eventually disqualified by Mercedes engineers.

Now it appears that after scrapping the parts in Belgium, they will try to use them again in Zandvoort according to Andrew Shovlin when speaking to AMuS.

Mercedes to try new parts again at Zandvoort

Mercedes believes the upgraded parts were not the source of their problems on Friday and instead traced it back to their car setup choices.

“We believe our problems were mainly caused by how we had set the car on Friday and not by the upgrade. It was absolutely right to reduce it to a well-known size. The drivers had no confidence in the fast corners on Friday. That takes a lot of time,” said Shovlin.

But with Zandvoort a different track that has slower corners and virtually no high-speed sections, the teams will be adding more downforce to their cars for this race. Mercedes plans to run their upgrades again at the track, which should provide them with more meaningful running.

“We have now had time to evaluate the data and are quite confident that the new parts will prove themselves there,” said Shovlin.

Mercedes car development ‘picture clearer’

Mercedes has struggled throughout this current regulation set to produce a car that can provide performance on track, while also giving their drivers confidence to push and achieve results.

The W15 is a shift in concept from what they had in previous years and after a somewhat rocky start to teh season, they are now getting it back on track.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Mercedes AMG F1 Team from team principal to lineage

Team Principal Toto Wolff believes that the run of races into the European part of the season made the ‘picture clearer’ for the team, as they realised where they were going wrong.

Their technical director James Allison elaborated on the key upgrade to their front wing that enabled Mercedes to improve their overall performance and challenge for victories on merit after a winless 2023 season.