Valtteri Bottas is anticipating Mercedes to make some gains thanks to the “solid” upgrade brought to the Japanese Grand Prix.
A first look at the W10 in the Suzuka pit-lane on Thursday saw a tweaked sidepod design with changes to the turning vane and bargeboard area.
This marks the first new parts Mercedes has introduced since the summer break and the Finn is keen to see what it delivers.
“We’re bringing a pretty solid update package this weekend,” Bottas claimed to Crash.net on Thursday. “We’ll try it tomorrow and see how it works but in theory, it should give us more performance.
“How much actually, that’s something we’ll find out but we have some rough numbers and it’s a pretty decent step in terms of upgrade packages so far. We shall see.”
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In terms of what it means for turning the tide against Ferrari and their recent resurgence though, Bottas doesn’t expect to suddenly pull away again.
“It’s been a pretty good car this year but, again, it’s a track that requires some different things,” he said of Suzuka.
“It has some pretty decent straights, where we’ll definitely have a disadvantage compared to Ferrari, so they’re going to be gaining time there.
“But there are some good sections, full of corners, where we know we’re good at and hope that with the upgrade package we’ll be even better.
“It’s so tough to predict, so the only thing I can say is that in qualifying Ferrari will be very strong again but in the race, we should have similar pace.”