New sidepods, rear wings and mirrors as championship leaders ramp up car development and dominate Friday's practice sessions.
Monday 10 December 2018 13:02, UK
Mercedes have ramped up F1's front-running development war with Ferrari and Red Bull by unveiling a "major" car upgrade package at the Austrian GP.
The Brackley team, fresh from winning last week's French GP with their 'spec 2.1' engine, unveiled a number of significant new parts on the championship-leading W09 in time for Friday's running, in which they finished one-two in both practice sessions.
The additions include revised sidepods, bargeboards, wing mirrors and rear-wing.
"This is certainly the biggest aero upgrade we've seen from Mercedes," declared Sky Sports F1's Ted Kravitz.
Martin Brundle added: "It's like a B-spec car almost. I think it's very ominous for the opposition."
Part of Mercedes' sustained success has been built on bringing incremental car upgrades to race weekends through a season, but team boss Toto Wolff described the Austrian approach as a "little change in concept".
Hamilton excited by Mercedes upgrades
Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas locked out the top of the timesheet throughout Friday and Wolff told Sky F1 after Practice One: "It's pretty tight at the front, there's not much difference between the cars, but it was a good start for us.
"After having an engine upgrade in France, we had a major chassis upgrade and everything seems to be working so far.
"The car looks pretty good and you can see that on the on-boards. There is great stability in the car and an easiness to drive, now we have to carry this through the weekend."
He added in the team bosses' press conference: "We have tried to compress what we had in terms of aero development and bring it at once. There's a little change in concept for our aero development and so far the drivers seem happy with it.
"It's a necessary step. Red Bull and Ferrari are not going to rest on their laurels, we are pushing each other from race to race. Even if you put a millisecond on the car you're going to do it because that could be the difference between pole and P3."
