Hamilton on aero updates: Mercedes immediately better

Lewis Hamilton has given a glowing review of Mercedes’ aerodynamic updates debuted in Austria with his Formula 1 car feeling “immediately better coming out of the garage”.

After introducing its delayed power unit update in France last week, Mercedes maintained its developments push with significant aerodynamic upgrades in Spielberg.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff was eager to underline an equal development haul on both engine and chassis to counter the building threat from Ferrari and Red Bull in 2018.

Both Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas, who produced a 1-2 in both Friday practice sessions at the Red Bull Ring, were encouraged by the initial feeling with the aero updates and the team will aim to optimise its W09 package ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix where the German manufacturer has clinched victory every year since 2014.

“It's really great to see the updates as the guys at the factory have been working so hard to bring quality components,” Hamilton said after topping the times in Austria by one-tenth of a second from Bottas. “The car feels better in certain areas around the track which is already a step forward from last week.

“The car felt immediately better coming out of the garage in FP1 and also at the start at FP2. It got a little worse during the afternoon session and we will try to figure out why in the debrief.

“But the car does feel good overall, so I'm sure we can rectify it. I'm going to keep pushing, trying to maximise a bit more out of it.”

“We tried our new updates today and the initial feeling is that they work well,” Bottas, who claimed pole position and victory in Austria last year, added. “It worked exactly as expected which is down to all the hard work behind the scenes. Especially the rear end of the car was really stable today.

“Last year I had severe blistering on the rear left tyre which could potentially be an issue again as it is going to be warmer again this Sunday. So it's good that the rear felt stable today.”