Ex-Mercedes F1 Director Reveals Team Was Afraid of Over-Dominating in 2014 – “We Never Turned up the Engine for Q1 or Q2”

The Mercedes F1 team dominated the hybrid era from 2014 to 2021. They have won the Constructors Champions for the 8th consecutive time, and will strive for another.

However, former Mercedes director Paddy Lowe revealed that they did not use their full engine capacity during free practices and qualifiers back in 2014 at the start of the era.

Mercedes Dominated the Grid From the Start

Mercedes set an example at the start of the Hybrid era. The Silver Arrows director at that time, Paddy Lowe, admitted they were clear of the rest. He stated the team knew they were going into a ‘special era’ after the first testing.

Speaking in the Beyond the Grid Podcast, he said, “I think when we got to the first test, certainly the second test, it became clearer that some others were pretty desperate and we were in pretty good shape.”

He conveyed there was a significant improvement in the engine power during the Bahrain testing that season, and admitted that the team did not expect Mercedes’ engine to be miles ahead of the rest.

The Englishman added, “Then we came to the Bahrain test with another upgrade, which suddenly brought another seven or eight-tenths of pure power. That was an enormous day.”

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Lowe also spoke about the comparison between the car and the drivers. He believes that the experience and craft of a driver are crucial when a team is competing for the Championship.

“We Never Turned up the Engine, For Q1 or Q2,” Says Lowe

Paddy Lowe revealed that there was a bit of concern in the camp about ‘how good’ the engine was. As Mercedes dominated the testing period, the concern grew.

He stated, “There were also material reasons for this, because the politics of the time when Bernie (Ecclestone) was walking around saying it was all a nightmare, these engines were terrible. The thought was that if Mercedes looked ridiculously good, then you would do something about it.”

As the result, Lowe explained that Mercedes never used their engine power to its full capacity even during the qualifiers. He added, “In qualifying, we never turned up the engine for Q1 or Q2”. He also commended the aerodynamics of the car and admitted it was as important as the engine.

According to him, this went on throughout the entire season. Mercedes topped the charts in 18 qualifiers without having to use their full engine power. Meanwhile, current Mercedes Team Principal, Toto Wolff contradicts the statements made by Paddy Lowe. He believes the engine always ran at full power and, as a result, Mercedes set the standard in the hybrid era.

The Silver Arrows dominated the V8 engine era from 2014 to 2021. Can they continue their success or will the rest catch up to them?

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