Mercedes investigating cooling issue which hampered Hungary performance

Hamilton was unable to convert his first pole position since 2021 into victory and finished fourth at the Hungaroring, while teammate Russell bounced back from a dreadful qualifying that left him 18th on the grid to take sixth. 

Seven-time world champion Hamilton complained about pace struggles during the early stages of the race but a competitive final stint saw him fall just short of challenging Sergio Perez’s Red Bull for the last podium place. 

Mercedes were also heard advising Hamilton to lift and coast amid temperature concerns throughout opening stint, and trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has now shed light on the problem. 

“We had one issue where the way that we predicted the cooling had meant that we were undercooled, so we are investigating why that wasn’t in line with expectation,” Shovlin explained in Mercedes’ latest post-race debrief video. 

“The consequence was that we had to ask the drivers to do lift and coast. This is where before they get to the end of the straight, they come off the throttle and the first bit of the entry phase to the corner they are doing without brakes, then they pick up the brakes later. 

“This helps cool the power unit, but it costs lap time. It also meant that neither driver could really attack the cars ahead of them. 

“Later in the race, we got into clearer air, so things were in a better window in terms of the temperatures. We could let them attack the cars ahead and we were able to show better pace. 

“It was also that the degradation of the tyres was good. The end of our stints were looking better than the early parts of the stints. 

“You could see that trend and decent performance, particularly for George, at the end of that first stint where he was going very well.”

Hamilton dropped three places in the first three corners after Max Verstappen muscled his way into the lead at Turn 1, before the fast-starting McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris also got past. 

Asked whether Mercedes considered starting Hamilton on soft tyres to boost his chances of staying ahead of Verstappen, Shovlin said: “Any tyre is an option to start on, but we reviewed them all and we look at the merits of how they would play out in terms of a simulation. 

“Starting on the Soft, you’ve got a much better chance of leading the first stint but if you've got Max behind you who has a very fast race car, ultimately that shorter life of the Soft is going to compromise you through the race. 

“You are going to get an offset in tyre life, and he is going to be able to overtake you later on. 

“So, we were focused on doing what was best for the overall race time, which was why Lewis was on the Medium and most of the cars around his area of the grid were on the Medium for the same reason.”