Mercedes targets podium finish at Belgian Grand Prix

F1 Grand Prix, GP Belgium, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin hopes that the Brackley-based outfit will be in contention for podium places at today's Belgian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton complained about the balance of his car and severe bouncing on Friday which means that he and his team must have been fairly happy with the conditions on Saturday.

The seven-time world champion looked quick in the tricky conditions of the qualifying session, and he managed to get the beating of the papaya duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri with what was a very decent effort. The Briton qualified fourth on the grid, but the engine penalty for Max Verstappen will promote him to third.

"Overall, qualifying was a good session for us. We tried to predict the weather as best we could, which is a real challenge around here. In hindsight, we would have chosen to run a little later on our new set of Intermediates in Q3, but the conditions and incoming rain are so hard to forecast.

Our pace was still decent on tyres that we had completed multiple push laps on so we can be pleased with our efforts today.

"Tomorrow’s race will be a challenge. We’ve likely got a few quicker cars starting behind us in Verstappen and the McLarens. I will be getting my head down though, trying to hold position to them and see if I can keep up with the guys ahead of me.

"I will be giving it everything and hopefully the changes we’ve made overnight will help us find more pace in the dry than we had on Friday."

His team-mate George Russell looked in danger in the opening qualifying segment, but he ultimately made it through into Q2 to then qualify seventh on the grid for the 44-lap Spa round.

"Predicting the ever-changing weather made qualifying a real challenge today. You had to make sure you had the new Intermediate tyre on your car at the right time, and that was difficult to do.

"We were maybe slightly too early putting it on in Q3, but it is easy to say that with the benefit of hindsight. Starting P6 for tomorrow is therefore a fair result.

"There will be a lot of unknowns going into tomorrow. The forecast is currently dry, and we will be hoping to move forward from P6. The McLarens looked fast on Friday and may be slightly quicker than us, but let’s wait and see.

"Tyre degradation will also play a big factor. It was some of the highest levels we have seen so far this year in FP1 and FP2. Today’s rain may also have an impact on the surface so we will have to be adaptable."

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff called Saturday's conditions "typical Spa", revealing that the team made a slight mistake by using their final set of fresh intermediates earlier than Ferrari and Red Bull.

"Today was a typical day at Spa; changeable conditions, with the forecast shifting constantly. That made it a real challenge. We also made changes to the car overnight but weren’t able to evaluate them in FP3 given the lack of running.

"Nevertheless, both drivers were competitive in qualifying. In Q3, we expected heavier rain to arrive and decided to use our final set of new Intermediates at the start of the segment.

"Conditions didn’t particularly deteriorate however and being just one tenth from starting P1 tomorrow, having set our time on tyres that had done multiple laps, is a little frustrating. That is all part of the challenge of Spa though and overall, we can be pleased with our efforts.

"Tomorrow is forecast to be dry. We saw on Friday that tyre degradation may play a large role in the race. The changes we’ve made overnight will hopefully help us manage this better and we can be in the fight for the podium once again."

Hamilton and Russell were not happy with the balance of the W15 on Friday which prompted Mercedes to ditch its heavily-upgraded floor and revert to the old-specification.

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin revealed that the team hoped for at least a few exploratory laps in final practice to assess the extensive changes to the setup of the car.

"We weren't happy with the balance or pace of the car yesterday, so we made some fairly major changes to the mechanical and aero specification of the car overnight. We'd hoped for a dry window in FP3 to evaluate those, but unfortunately it stayed wet throughout and there was no chance to accumulate any meaningful running.

"Wet qualifying sessions are difficult at present as the grid is tight. You need to time your new sets to coincide with when the track is at its quickest. By Q3, we were down to one new set of Intermediates. We'd decided to carry more fuel and do multiple laps to try and land one with the driest conditions. That was similar to McLaren. We lost out to the Ferrari of Leclerc though who used his new set right at the end. Had we not been carrying the fuel, we would have had the pace for P2.

"We don’t know where we will stack up on race pace, as the car is quite different to the one we ran in the dry yesterday. Starting from P3 and P6 though, we are hopefully well placed to fight for a podium."