Mercedes engineers facing 'tricky' challenge with new Sprint format

Mercedes say that finding the optimum set-up for both qualifying and race trim in a single practice session in Baku will be a "tricky" challenge for its engineers and its drivers.

This weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix will include the first of Formula 1's six Sprint races that will be held this year. However, a new format sees Saturday's running exclusively devoted to the Sprint event.

FP2 has been replaced by a qualifying shootout that will set the grid for the afternoon's standalone 30-minute Sprint, while Friday's schedule will include FP1 and a normal qualifying session that will determine the starting positions for Sunday's race.

Mercedes sporting director Ron Meadows shed some light on the process required to deal with the new Sprint schedule and with the teams having just a single 60-minute work session to set up their cars.

"The new format won't cause massive changes to how the garage personnel operate over the weekend," explained Meadows.

"However, when you add sessions that require 100 percent attack from the drivers and every lap matters to advance through to the next stage, you always run the risk of a crash.

"It will be very tricky for the engineers and drivers to find the optimum set-up for both qualifying and heavy race fuel trim.

"We will need to maximise the number of laps in FP1, so we likely won't be planning on making set-up changes that sap running time for the drivers.

"It's a new way of working for all the teams and provides a fair amount of opportunity to excel."

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Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin believes drivers will likely indulge in multiple-lap runs in Saturday's compressed Sprint Shootout qualifying session rather in single-lap efforts.

"The drivers will go straight into a qualifying session on Saturday, which is very unusual," commented Shovlin.

"It's a tall order to expect the drivers to deliver a single-lap performance immediately so I suspect everyone will go for multi-lap runs.

"The medium tyre can handle multiple laps but without having several sets available, there's a higher chance of getting unlucky with a red flag for example. I think everyone will get out on track and get busy trying to put laps in.

"It's been interesting as we didn't actually know the format until Tuesday as the rules were voted on at the F1 Commission meeting."

Shovlin said Mercedes has geared up for this weekend's Sprint format by preparing for all eventualities and laying out its priorities.
"We looked at three eventualities that may have happened and prepared tyre and run plans for all of those," he said.

"When you've only got FP1, it's practically impossible to condense all the usual learnings across Friday and Saturday into one session.

"You lose the opportunity to focus on the long run and you've got to think about what the real priorities are.

“It's our job to take any set of regulations and optimise for them. With a lack of information there's an opportunity to learn more quickly and do a better job. That's what the team is focused on."

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