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Mercedes has used its second and final filming day to test the new upgrades that will be brought to the Spanish GP. The filming day was conducted at Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France, with George Russell driving the updated W13.
According to various reports, it does appear that the Silver Arrows have been able to find a gain of around 3-4 kph in straight-line speed with the new low-load rear wing. An updated power unit will also be introduced in Barcelona to further help the team achieve performance improvements on the car.
Mercedes, however, is not the only team that has made use of the filming days to test their upgrades. Ferrari did the same at Monza last weekend with Charles Leclerc behind the wheel.
The German team has been one of the biggest victims of the porpoising phenomenon as the car bounces almost violently when the phenomenon kicks in. The team has been making efforts to tame the bouncing and will be bringing in upgrades to control it in a better way.
George Russell agreed that porpoising makes the car very tough to drive. He, however, also admitted that the team has the potential to unlock massive chunks of time once it can get its head around the car's characteristics.
The Briton said:
“I think we can find chunks and chunks of lap time if we can just find that killer key to get it in that perfect spot. I’m not sure if that will be the next race but the guys are working day and night back at the factory and we all believe we can. We have to stick to our guns and keep pushing down this direction. It will be a number of races before we say we have to go a different way, but I believe in them.”
Mercedes banking on Spanish GP for a title fightback?
Mercedes has not been a frontrunner this season by quite some distance. One of the biggest reasons behind that has been the porpoising effect that has plagued the unique concept that the German team is using.
If the team can make significant inroads in its gap to the frontrunners, however, we could be looking at a scenario where the team can become a factor in the championship battle. The Brackley-based outfit will be banking on making these kinds of improvements, although it needs to be seen if they can be accomplished or not.
