Mercedes Admits to 'Overthinking' in Post-2022 Struggles
Mercedes' Andrew Shovlin admits the team "overthought" its development under the 2022 regulations, causing a performance slump. He believes a simpler, more experimental approach would have yielded faster results against Red Bull's dominance.
Mercedes' trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin, has conceded that the team's culture of innovation morphed into counter-productive 'overthinking' following the 2022 regulation changes. This analytical approach, he admits, hampered their progress and allowed Red Bull to establish dominance in the ground-effect era, a stark contrast to Mercedes' previous years of championship-winning form.
Why it matters:
This candid admission provides a rare window into the internal struggles of a top-tier F1 team. It moves beyond simple on-track performance to diagnose a philosophical issue that cost Mercedes valuable time. Understanding this self-diagnosis is key to gauging their ability to adapt and reclaim their position at the front of the grid, especially with another major regulation change on the horizon in 2026.
The details:
- Shovlin pushed back against the idea that Mercedes was "too brave," asserting that a culture of innovation and ambition is essential to winning championships and abandoning it would relegate them to being a "solid also-ran."
- The core problem, he explained, was the method. The team was "perhaps being too analytical and overthinking it" when a "simple experimental approach would have given us more progress in the early stages."
- He acknowledged that in hindsight, Mercedes "could have copied sooner" and pursued certain development avenues more quickly, suggesting a lag in reacting to the new competitive landscape created by the ground-effect rules.
- The director highlighted the danger of cumulative risk, stating that if the "cumulative risk of failure is too high, it’s probably not going to work well." He stressed that ambitious projects must be successfully delivered, not just conceived, to be valuable.
What's next:
The key takeaway for Mercedes is finding a better balance between pioneering concepts and pragmatic, effective development. Shovlin's comments indicate a shift towards a more agile philosophy that blends their innovative spirit with faster, more iterative learning. As the team sets its sights on the 2026 regulations, this hard-won lesson could prove pivotal in designing a car that is both groundbreaking and immediately competitive, helping them avoid the painful transition they experienced in 2022.