“We missed a key bit of the broadcast” – Mercedes’ F1 trackside engineering director has opened up on the issue that led to the botched pit stops.
Andrew Shovlin has revealed it all when it comes to the blooper that caused George Russell his maiden F1 title. The radio communication was the reason behind the entire fiasco, now we know. Ron Meadows, the sporting director, gets priority in the radio messages as he decides the tyres for the drivers, in this case, George Russell and Valtteri Bottas. But in the case of the former, only a ‘part’ of the pit crew seemed to have got the message.
“That has to do with how the radio system prioritises messages. When for instance Ron is calling out the crews and getting them to get the tyres ready for the two drivers, there were a number of broadcasts at that time on the radio system.”
“The system knows to prioritise the messages coming from Ron because the most important thing is the tyres are there: more so than whatever a driver says or whatever someone else in the crew might say. But it looks like there is a period whereby the system is deciding to let the prioritised message through, and we missed a key bit of the broadcast.”
“(This meant) that half of the tyre collectors didn’t get the message. And it looks like half of them did. Therefore we’ve got the cars coming in, and all the tyres are not ready in the pit lane.”
This cost both George Russell and Valtteri Bottas heavily and will require tough introspection from Mercedes. The only race Lewis Hamilton wasn’t present in, this happened. Here’s hoping George Russell gets another shot at making his dream come true.
WATCH: Mercedes F1 double-stack pit stop blooper
Before you go: “He’s F1 world champion material” – Ross Brawn with the ultimate praise for George Russell after Sakhir Grand Prix
