Mercedes awaiting answers after key power unit concern

Mercedes is awaiting the start of the sprint race in Shanghai as it looks to see if it has fixed a concern that occurred in Australia.

The Brackley-based squad lost the lead of the race in Melbourne, as Charles Leclerc soared from fourth on the grid to first, moving ahead of a slow-starting George Russell from pole position.

Russell eventually went on to win the race, but later spoke of having no battery deployment on the opening lap due to formation lap preparation tactics.

The Briton will start Saturday's sprint race from pole position ahead of team-mate Kimi Antonelli as the squad looks to secure another 1-2.

“We did a decent job of landing the setup in a good place today and the drivers were happy with the car from the first run in free practice,” said Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin.

“From there, we made some relatively minor tweaks during the session and into sprint qualifying, but mostly it was to follow the track evolution.”

As Mercedes' focus switches to the upcoming race, Shovlin stated it will offer a crucial insight into how its remedies for its starts have worked out.

“The sprint qualifying session was fairly uneventful; the car was working well on both compounds and it's great to have got both on the front row,” he said.

“The sprint races are very good learning for the grand prix, not to mention an opportunity to score useful points. 

“We've been doing a lot of work on starts and formation lap energy management over the last few days so tomorrow is a good opportunity to put that into practice. 

“It's also helpful to understand how the tyres behave; this track is pretty tough on the fronts, so the drivers are going to have to manage that quite carefully.”