“It has moved from hope to belief”: Mercedes engineering director says that they are confident they can win both Championships in 2021

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin is confident that they can win both the titles after their win in Brazil.

After Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification from Qualifying and grid penalty in Brazil, Mercedes thought the weekend would be about ‘damage limitations’. That was not the case, as Hamilton put in a stellar performance to win the Sao Paolo GP.  His teammate Valtteri Bottas also fought hard to finish 3rd.

Hamilton’s win and a double podium for Mercedes have been a massive confidence boost for the Brackley based team. The Briton is now just 14 points behind Max Verstappen in the driver’s standings. In the constructor’s standings, the Silver Arrows extend their lead over Red Bull to 11 points.

“The impact on the championship this weekend, the fact we’ve got the penalty out of the way and managed to outscore Max and outscored Red Bull, and that gives us a lot of confidence,” said Andrew Shovlin.

Also read: Mick Schumacher unveils disappointment over losing his front wing after colliding with Kimi Raikkonen leading to underwhelming performance in Brazil

We will work incredibly hard to ensure we win everything, says Mercedes

The momentum seemed to be in favour of Red Bull after Mexico but Mercedes have brought it right back to their garage going into the last 3 races of the season.

“I think for us, the championship, coming out of Mexico we had hope we could win them both and now it’s moving to belief that we can win them both and we’ll be working very, very hard to ensure we can do that.” he said.

Shovlin was also very happy with how the car performed in Brazil. In terms of pace, the W12 was miles ahead of any other car on the grid. That will be a massive boost to the team ahead of the inaugural Qatar GP this weekend.

“The car was working well on a single lap, we had good pace in the cooler conditions in the Sprint, we were keeping the tires in a really good region,” he said. “In the race it was a strong performance but on a really hot track, up at 50c, it’s an aggressive circuit and the car was still working really well.

“So to have performed over the various sessions in a range of conditions has been really encouraging when you look at the conditions we’re going to get across the next three tracks.”

Also read: Lewis Hamilton reveals strange aspect that led them to emphatic victory against Red Bull in Brazil