‘We’ve moved on from Spain’, insists Paddy Lowe
Mercedes F1’s executive director (technical) Paddy Lowe has insisted that the team has moved on from the ignominious first lap crash that took out both Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton in the Spanish Grand Prix two weeks ago.
“We had a good hearing with the stewards,” he said. “We saw it very much the same way they did: it was a racing accident as a function of two guys really pushing each other to the limits.
“It was exacerbated by the power difference between the two cars, which really made things happen very, very quickly – so a split second. And they both saw it, in the end, as a racing accident, so we moved on.”
Lowe added that the incident showed how much Mercedes had matured as a team since the clash between Rosberg and Hamilton at Spa-Francorchamps in 2014 which clouded the remainder of the season with barely-concealed ill-feeling between the two drivers.
“I think going back to Spa in 2014, we found what really bad looked like. That was a bad moment in the team,” Lowes agreed. However, it hadn’t been without a silver lining.
“Actually a good [moment], because we built from there a much, much stronger partnership between the drivers and the rest of the team, so there was an understanding.
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“I think we’re in a lot better place now and we saw that pan out with the accident in Spain where it was dealt with very maturely, across between the drivers.”
Part of the problem has been the differing starting performance between the two drivers this season when launching alongside each other from the front row, pitching them straight into wheel-to-wheel combat.
“In the particular case of Spain, actually Lewis had a better start than Nico, but it’s a function of that race that there is a very long drag to the first corner where you can get an advantage in the two, so Lewis’ start was better than Nico’s. Nico did a great job through Turn One, as we saw, which I think caught Lewis by surprise.
“It wasn’t a feature of that particular event. Race starts are very variable, even more so nowadays because of the regulations, which have restricted the input of the team to the process.
“I think we’ve had three of best starts of the five races so far, but then we’ve had some very mediocre ones as well. Lewis, for example, had the best start on the grid in China, exactly where he didn’t need it, putting him straight into an accident. That’s the luck that sometimes comes your way.
“In general, we keep trying to make the starts more consistent, as well as better, but that’s a challenge shared with all of our competitors, we’re all in that same game. It’s very difficult.”
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