Hot on the heels of their engine upgrade, Mercedes are openly boasting about the aero based tweaks that their car will feature at the Austrian Grand Prix, as the 'arms-race' between the Big Three ramps up is likely to be decisive in the title fight.
Last time out in France, Mercedes unleashed what they called the 'Spec-2.1' version of their power unit and Lewis Hamilton duly qualified the Silver Arrows on pole and then went on to win the race on Sunday afternoon.
They now arrive in Austria with a raft of upgrades, including a revised side-pod which has been shortened by about 12 centimetres and the louvres in front of the sidepod tweaked as a result.
Other mods, under the skin, including a modified bargeboard, optimised rear-view mirrors and an updated rear wing with vertical endplate slots.
Mercedes were not shy to Tweet their upgrade details:
Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas will get to sample the latest package in FP1 at Red Bull Ring and is likely to feature throughout the weekend where Mercedes have not lost in the four outings since the venue returned to the calendar in 2014 after a nine-year hiatus.
In Canada, Ferrari had the edge but since then the engine update gave the F1 World Champions a boost and now with the latest chassis and aero tweaks their drivers are expecting even more performance from the formidable W09.
Hamilton told reporters on the eve of the race weekend in Austria, “I hope it’s a significant difference this weekend and I hope that it helps us. I’m excited. We haven’t really bolted anything to the car this year.
“It’s one of the first real serious upgrades. It’s great when you get out there because you feel those couple of points straight away, in a certain corner, you feel those improvements so I’m looking forward to experiencing it tomorrow and will try and figure out where those improvements are on the circuit.”
“The development race is always tight and I think up until now, we haven’t had a lot of development parts on the car. I’m aware the guys are working harder and harder to ensure we bring quality rather than quantity so it’s great to see some new bits this weekend, excited to try them on track.”
“I know how hard everyone is working back at the factory to make sure we bring the good stuff. It will undoubtedly help us in our battle to frighten the other guys.”
Bottas is also optimistic, “It’s a decent upgrade that was very much needed like any small gain this year and I’m looking forward to trying it out.”
“Now between Ferrari and us, the margins are very, very small. In the past few years, Mercedes had really good engines but now every small gain is important.”
“I’ve just seen the car and there were quite a few new bits on the car, which is always interesting as a driver to try for the first time. We have many new bits and we have to see how the whole package works together.”
“We need to confirm it works as it should, work on the set-up and unlock all its potential. We hope we have been able to make a performance gain again this weekend, but that’s something we need to prove,” added Bottas.
Mercedes head to Spielberg this weekend for Round 9 of the Formula 1 World Championship, the second race in a back-to-back triple-header, leading the constructors' standings by 23 points while Hamilton tops the drivers' standings with a 14 point lead over Ferrari.
Big Question: Can Mercedes be stopped in Austria?
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