Breaking news

Formula 1 Austrian GP

Mercedes “under-delivered” in Austria due to compact radiators

Mercedes has revealed the cooling problems that made its Austrian Grand Prix “painful” were a legacy of the fundamental design of its Formula 1 car being too “optimistic”.

Scott Mitchell

Edited: Jul 3, 2019, 7:12 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Mercedes AMG F1 W10, engine

Valtteri Bottas finished third while championship leader Lewis Hamilton finished off the podium for the first time this season in fifth position, as Mercedes’ 100% winning start to the season ended in extremely hot conditions at the Red Bull Ring. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff referred to the car’s cooling as its “Achilles’ heel” after the race, and admitted that the team was “carrying the problem” since the start of 2019.

In Mercedes’ regular post-race Pure Pitwall video, trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has outlined how the pursuit of aggressive packaging has led to the W09 having a cooling system that has “under-delivered” in the hottest temperatures.

“Fundamentally the car doesn’t have big enough radiators,” said Shovlin. “And that’s something that we were a bit optimistic with how much we could get out of the cooling system.

“It’s under-delivered to what we hoped we could achieve, and it’s meant that we are carrying this issue where in the very hot races we will be struggling to keep everything cool enough – principally to keep the power unit cool enough that we don’t do any damage to it.”

More F1 news:

Teams deploy various bodywork alterations in warmer temperatures to try to keep cooling under control.

“You can increase the amount of cooling you get out of the car by opening up the bodywork exits,” explained Shovlin. “In Austria it was 35C degrees, that actually put us at the upper end of what we could achieve just by opening the car up. So, we were on limit. When you get to that point you are really limited in your options.”

Bottas and Hamilton were hamstrung during the race and defeated by both Ferraris and the Honda-powered Red Bull of Max Verstappen. They were unable to attack as the grand prix developed because of the extent they were trying to manage temperatures.

Shovlin said they were lifting-and-coasting for “around 400 metres per lap” – almost 10% of the Red Bull Ring layout.

“That is why they were so compromised on performance,” Shovlin added. “You can also turn the engine down a bit, then it will generate less heat, but you’ve got less power and you are slower on the straights. So, it was definitely a significant limitation in Austria.”

After the race, Wolff said Mercedes was pushing to resolve the problem as soon as possible – indicating that despite the cause being linked to a fundamental element of the car’s design, it does not have to be a permanent feature.

Shovlin added: “We are working on systems – we were working on them before Austria – to try and improve this problem and we should be in a better position.

“But, it all really goes down to the fundamental design of the car, where in the push for very, very tight packaging, we have ended up being undercooled overall.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Promoted: How Abu Dhabi offers some of the best views in F1

Next article Red Bull-Honda surprised to be first non-Mercedes winner

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

2026 F1 Brazilian Grand Prix starting grid

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

19 min

2026 F1 Brazilian Grand Prix starting grid

NASCAR Cup Homestead starting lineup: Chase Briscoe snags pole over Hamlin

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

25 min

NASCAR Cup Homestead starting lineup: Chase Briscoe snags pole over Hamlin

F1 Brazilian GP: Lando Norris takes pole in soaking wet qualifying

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

34 min

F1 Brazilian GP: Lando Norris takes pole in soaking wet qualifying

Toto Wolff explains the emotional Mercedes factory email leaked online

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

34 min

Toto Wolff explains the emotional Mercedes factory email leaked online

Feature

Discover prime content

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

How F1’s rules got to be so complex

Formula 1

By Pat Symonds

How F1’s rules got to be so complex

A water park, “not a rock star” and Toto Wolff’s words – Is Kimi Antonelli really a different F1 champion?

Formula 1

By Ronald Vording

A water park, “not a rock star” and Toto Wolff’s words – Is Kimi Antonelli really a different F1 champion?

Why Ferrari must act now after its own 'Papaya Rules' moment

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Filip Cleeren

Why Ferrari must act now after its own 'Papaya Rules' moment

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts