It has been reported by Italian media that Mercedes have discovered a horsepower gain ahead of the forthcoming season, with the amount believed to be in the ‘double digits’.
Whilst there is a current engine freeze, with performance-based improvements being banned, reliability upgrades are permitted.
It’s through reliability upgrades that all of the frontrunners have supposedly found more power, with Ferrari believed to have gained around 30hp after fixing their power unit’s reliability.
With that in mind, Formu1auno have reported that ‘rumours coming out of Brackley are that the German engine will gain double-digit value’.
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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is hopeful that the Germans will be at the right “level” to be “part of the fight at the top”, something their reported power gain will certainly support.
“If our performance is at the level we hope they will be, we could be part of the fight at the top,” Wolff said, as reported by PlanetF1.com.
“I think that would be a good starting point, but let’s not take it for granted, because it can also happen that we have a gap like we had at the end of last season.
“I believe that there is still so much potential in our car and its philosophy that maybe we will have a very big and steep development curve in the months to come.”
Interestingly, Mercedes have reportedly made some changes to the W14 over recent weeks, with the team unveiling their new car on Wednesday.
One thing that isn’t set to change, though, is the Silver Arrows’ ‘zero sidepods’, a feature that appears to have been used by Red Bull somewhat following recent photos from their shakedown test.
Given the late tweaks, the side’s Brackley base has been ‘very hectic’, with the side trying to get the W14 ready both for the launch, and for the circuit.
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‘In order to get ready for the presentation day, the work is very hectic as the timetable was not fully respected and so extra work was asked of the employees in the last few weeks,’ claims Formu1auno.
‘The problems involved the actual production of some parts, as late modifications were made to the W14 project.’
Ahead of the launch, Mercedes unveiled a black livery, to the delight of fans.