Auto Motor und Sport journalist Michael Schmidt has outlined Mercedes’ development plans from now until the Hungarian Grand Prix before the summer break.
The Silver Arrows’ performance was much improved from the opening nine rounds of the season in Silverstone last weekend, and Sir Lewis Hamilton looked capable of challenging the Ferraris for victory before a late Safety Car.
The smooth track surface at the British Grand Prix played to his and George Russell’s advantage over the course of the weekend, but there is more undulation and a bumpier track to contend with in Austria this weekend.
They are therefore expected to use Austria to determine how effective their latest iteration of the W13 can really be, and they will bring small changes to Spielberg, as well as Paul Ricard and Budapest before Formula 1 breaks for the summer.
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“At Mercedes they are not sure how Spielberg will work out for them,” said Schmidt.
“It will be a good circuit to see how good the updates from Silverstone really are, they told me that they [Mercedes] will now bring small upgrades every race, all these upgrades will be floor related.”
The idea of the alterations is to ascertain how much progress they have made in stopping the “porpoising” and bouncing phenomenon.
“Mercedes will take these upgrades all the way to Budapest,” added Schmidt.
“That is the big test to see if they have completely fixed the bouncing.
“If everything works there, Mercedes think they can win races on their own in the second half of the season.”
The German journalist suggested that the changes made to the car are expected to be very minor, so much so that there will not actually be a visible difference to the car.
The anticipation as a result of the research and development is that the eight-time constructors’ champions can start winning races in the latter stages of the season.