Mercedes reveals 'considerable' F1 race pace gains

Mercedes claims its new aerodynamic package has yielded a “considerably quicker” race simulation, though some issues remain for the defending Formula 1 world champions. 

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas racked up a combined 176 laps of mileage as Mercedes recovered strongly from its setback on Tuesday, after Bottas’ afternoon running was curtailed by an oil leak.

The German manufacturer had planned to carry out extensive analysis of its heavily-revised aero package it debuted on the opening day of the second pre-season test, but the disruption to Bottas’ programme halted its progress. 

While Mercedes noted improvements in terms of its race simulations, it says it encountered new problems with front graining - which technical director James Allison believes could prove to be a running theme throughout the upcoming season. 

“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,” Allison explained. 

“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. 

“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.”

Five-time world champion Hamilton echoed Allison’s comments, adding Mercedes is in the process of working through a “few little hurdles”. 

“We got a lot of laps today which is a good thing, but we've come across a few little hurdles,” Hamilton said. 

“So 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.” 

Bottas, who completed 74 laps in the morning, added: “It was a positive day, we did 74 laps this morning, focusing on set-up work and making some good progress. 

“There’s a lot of data for us to go through tonight to further improve our set-up and make sure we come up with the optimal programme for tomorrow. 

“We learned a lot today and we will make sure to learn a lot again tomorrow.”