Mercedes updates are coming says Allison

After a thorough trouncing by Max Verstappen at Red Bull Ring on Sunday, Hamilton was left questioning the performance of their rivals while wondering aloud if his team had anything in reserve (eg. updates) for the W12 to counter this attack on their reign.

Responding, Wolff told reporters: “Pretty much everybody is going to be on next year’s car. Some may still bring stuff. Red Bull has brought trucks on Thursday and Friday with new parts.

"We have stopped developing for this year because we believe next year is so important to get it right. And they keep adding bits," lamented Wolff.

But rival team boss Christian Horner was not buying it and said he very much doubted their rivals would throw in the towel so early in the season.

Indeed, in the wake of the race that saw Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton drop points in both the constructors' and drivers championship, tech boss James Allison has said otherwise: “We have a reasonable number of things that are going to make our car faster in the coming races

"Let’s hope they prove sufficient. I don’t think those two things are at odds with each other. I don’t think Toto has said precisely that," added Allison in a F1 Nation Podcast.

“What Toto points out is that next year’s rules are a big and hairy affair and they demand a huge amount of our attention, so most of the focus of our factory has switched over to the performance discovery for next year, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t things still in the food chain from prior to that focus switch.

“Furthermore it isn’t all of the factory and furthermore, we [Brackley] are only one of two factories, there’s also the PU factory [Brixworth] and there is a little bit more to come from the power unit.

"So there’s some more aerodynamic change in the offing, a little bit of PU, we hope, on the delivery side and just a few things that are not quite as tidy as we would wish that we still have an opportunity to put right while this season is still very much alive and hot.”

"Ever since the rule changes that were introduced aerodynamically for looking after the tyres, we have found it hellishly hard to find the sort of performance gain rate that we found previously prior to those rules."

Hamilton has been able to extract more from the package on a consistent basis than teammate Valtteri Bottas who has been less solid than normal with performance peaks and toughs.

As for the advantage Hamilton is able to eke out, Allison said: "He wants to be driving a car that allows him to showcase his skill, but he’s absolutely brilliant for us in these circumstances because he’s so focused on winning and on championships that his response to a situation like this is just to redouble his own contribution

“He was in our factory running a lot of simulator laps last week and he is as committed as anybody in making sure that we find the edge that we need to, to be able to put pressure on the Red Bull in front and I think you see him at his absolute best," added the Mercedes man.

After years of dominance at Red Bull Ring, Mercedes are on the back foot at this double-header on their rival's home turf. They have it all to do ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix this Sunday as they are in the unfamiliar place of trailing in both title races.