Mercedes: "We'll do what we can to make sure that both cars are competing"

"A frustrating finish to what was looking like a decent qualifying session," is how Shovlin summed up Mercedes' Friday. The updates introduced by the Brackley-based racing team seem to be working well. After a strong first free practice session, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell looked set for a good starting position for the sprint race. "We were putting some solid laps in when both drivers had moments and ended up in the wall."

Both drivers slammed the sides of their W13 into the wall, causing some damage. In the coming hours it will be investigated if any parts, for example the gearbox, were hit too hard. In that case it is possible that Hamilton or Russell will have to take a grid penalty. A start from the pit lane by Hamilton was also not excluded by Toto Wolff earlier on Friday.

Few spare parts Mercedes

Shovlin agrees it will be a long night in Austria. "We are still assessing the extent of it but both accidents caused damage to several of the same components on each car, which makes it quite difficult from a spares point of view.

Due to inflation and rising transport costs, Formula One teams will take fewer spare parts in 2022 than in recent seasons. Mercedes may well feel the pain of that at Spielberg. "We'll do what we can to make sure that both cars are competing," Shovlin seems not quite sure of his case yet.