Mercedes has bad news for Red Bull and McLaren: This top car can be much better!

20:39, 29 Jan

byLudo van Denderen

Mercedes’ performance in Barcelona has not gone unnoticed - which is a major warning for their rivals. The team was by far the fastest, and the new power unit proved extremely reliable. The bad news for the competition is that Mercedes says they weren’t even running a dialled-in setup in Spain.

Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ trackside engineering director, is a satisfied man after three days of testing. “It was truly impressive in terms of reliability. The car is fully equipped with new systems and everything works fantastically. We finished a day early, partly because the car allowed us to execute the program each day exactly as planned,” the Briton says.

According to Shovlin, there were plenty of challenges with this new generation of F1 cars. This test was therefore focused on learning to understand the car. “There are always some challenges with new power units and new electronics. Of course, the chassis regulations are completely new, but in all the areas that weren’t optimal at the start, we’ve made good progress. That’s very encouraging.”

The new Mercedes - Photo: Mercedes

“That progress even meant we got faster every day. That’s great. But honestly, I find the reliability simply fantastic, which is a huge testament to all the great work done in Brixworth and Brackley to make this project happen.”

Mercedes expects even more from the new car

In the end, Mercedes managed to hit all its targets in Spain. The team can now get to work for the next test. “In Bahrain we’re going to focus more on improving the setup and seeing how we can get the car into the right window. Although you could do some setup work here, it’s so cold that it’s not really relevant.”

“Bahrain is therefore a much better place to check whether the car performs well at the right temperature, both in terms of chassis performance and system operation. The final test in Bahrain will hopefully be more about race preparation, qualifying prep, the race itself, and all the situations that come with it.”

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