Mercedes brings new aero package to German GP

Valtteri Bottas says the introduction of a “nice” new aerodynamic package highlights the winning mentality the Mercedes Formula 1 team has.

The German manufacturer’s development push has not slowed despite winning nine out of the opening 10 races of the season and holding a huge lead in both world championships.

Mercedes has brought a number of new updates to Hockenheim, including front wing revisions, an upgraded sidepod which houses a new cooling update, floor tweaks, and a new aggressive rear-wing endplate.

Speaking about the upcoming race, Bottas said: “It’s a different circuit, with hot conditions and we know that our car is maybe not the most efficient in hot conditions.

“But we have some new bits for the cooling and also a quite nice new aero package that should give some more performance to the car.

“We’ll see as we go but, for sure, for me there is only one goal for the weekend and that is to try and win the race.

“I like that mindset that it’s never enough,” he added. “If we have an advantage, a gap, we want more, we want a bigger gap.

“That’s how we’re all tuned in this team, it’s the winning mentality and I just wish everything works as it should, because I’m sure every team is also pushing very hard and bringing new bits all the time.”

Bottas said there was a “strong reaction” within Mercedes’ ranks following its first defeat of the season in Austria, and hopes a new cooling system update will lessen the impact of the W10’s apparent overheating weakness.

“After Austria there was quite a strong reaction from the team, as we clearly had a big weakness in our package and we basically introduced a new upgrade for the cooling system,” he explained.

“That should be more efficient and should hopefully give us quite a few degrees of margin. But I don’t think anybody expected to be racing with 40º C – maybe less on Sunday, but at least tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes.”