Mercedes claim their new aero package has led to a considerable improvement in race pace after a simulation on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas completed over 170 laps between them, as the German manufacturer looked to make up for time lost a day earlier due to an enforced engine change.
And after a pre-season that has largely underwhelmed, compared to their rivals at least, technical director James Allison offered the most upbeat assessment of the Mercedes W10 so far.
“We did set-up work in the morning with Valtteri and continued with this in the early afternoon with Lewis, yielding some good results for both drivers,” he explained.
Allison did admit the improved pace did uncover a new problem, though.
“The race run in the afternoon, although quite considerably quicker than the last race simulation we made, was marred by front graining – something which we think, looking up and down the pit lane, could be a feature of the year,” the Briton continued.
“We need to make progress on graining resistance in the next couple of days, in order to make sure we have a good way of handling it by the time the racing season begins.”
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With temperatures still a little cool in Barcelona, it is possible graining will be less of an issue in the warmer climate of Australia particularly, however, there was more for Mercedes to consider.
“We got a lot of laps today which is a good thing, but we’ve come across a few little hurdles,” Hamilton commented.
“We’re just working our way through them, trying to be as diligent as possible trying to understand the causes – which is exactly what testing is for,
“Everyone is working flat-out and I’m sure we will get there. You need days like this to be able to bring light to the things that we need to work on.”
