Mercedes detail factor hindering upgrade progress

Mercedes has outlined the handling issues with the W15 challenger are making it more difficult to make a significant step forward with its upgrades.

The Brackley-based squad brought a new floor to Miami last weekend, as well as changes to its front wing and front suspension.

Mercedes has been playing catch-up to the front-running competition across the last two years and is set to unveil further upgrades at the upcoming round from Imola.

Speaking on the latest F1 Debrief video, Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin admitted satisication with the performance of new parts in Miami.

“We managed to pull forward about half of our upgrade kit to Miami and the other half is going to arrive in Imola,” he said. 

“We’re working very hard on the future races to try bring developments to them as well.

“Did it work as expected? Yes, it all looks like it delivered the performance we were hoping for from the floor.

“The issue at the moment is everyone else is developing their cars, you saw McLaren with a big package, you saw they were able to move forward.”

Mercedes hopeful over progress

As it also bids to out-pace its rivals as well as get on top of its own concerns, Mercedes is hopeful a clear step forward will soon be made.

“Also the handling issues the drivers are having to battle with are making it hard to seal that performance as a straight step forward,” Shovlin added.

“What we tend to find is the car from session to session can behave quite differently. Until we get on top of that, we are always going to blunt the benefit we can get from these type of updates.

“After the last few races, we’ve got a very clear idea of what we need to do to the car to get it handling a bit more easily for the drivers, making sure it goes where they want it to go when they’re on those important qualifying laps.

“We’ve also got a good thread of upgrades coming over the next three or four races. 

“A lot of hard work is going on but hopefully, we will start to see the fruits of that soon.”