© Sulay Kelly for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Although Mercedes didn’t list any upgrades in the FIA’s official presentation document for the Spanish Grand Prix, the team did bring one important upgrade.
Although Mercedes didn’t list any upgrades in the FIA’s official presentation document for the Spanish Grand Prix, it’s being reported that they did upgrade the floor of their car – they made it lighter.
When asked if the team did anything to their car ahead of Spain, team boss Toto Wolff explained:
“We brought parts, quite a bit to this race, but maybe not the visible ones.
“So I think in that fight, you need to add performance every single Grand Prix. And even if it’s just a few milliseconds here and there, but we brought parts.
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“In Formula 1, everybody jumps to a conclusion and says, I’ve seen that front wing and those side pods and those deflectors. Front wings play a big role today. It’s clear.
“Aero elasticity plays a big role, but so do the floors. I think it’s always the combination of these.
“You can have a front wing that flexes like a banana and passes the test, but the rest of the car just doesn’t work properly in the interaction.
“I think everybody’s trying to push the boundaries and within the regulations.
“And I think what we’ve been able to do over the last three races is particular on the right side, where we believe that we’ve made a big step and all of the aero bits that came since then.
“And maybe we’ve just been very much on the other end of where we should have been on wings and floors and all of that.”
Toto then explained the team’s upgrades strategy.
“Since Imola, we’ve brought upgrades to every single race, smaller and bigger ones.
“So, you know, there’s the odd thing that’s visible where people talk about and the other things that are not.
“But it was aero and it was mechanical. And I would say that on the mechanical side, we’ve seen that the car is very good over bumps and kerbs. The ride is very smooth.
“And I would say that all of these marginal gains have contributed to better lap times,” the Austrian concluded.
