Mercedes describes British GP F1 upgrades as “quite exciting”

After a run of five consecutive Red Bull victories, Mercedes will look to bounce back at Silverstone with its first significant upgrade since the start of the season.

There had been some confusion as to whether it would upgrade its W12, with Toto Wolff initially stating there would be no further developments.

Shortly after that, James Allison confirmed that Mercedes will introduce a small upgrade for the race at Silverstone, although the team has played down the significance of it.

With Lewis Hamilton now trailing Max Verstappen by 32 points in the drivers’ championship, Mercedes is hopeful that this upgrade can turn its season around.

Speaking in Mercedes’ F1 debrief on its YouTube channel, Shovlin said: “We are looking forward to Silverstone, we’ve got a good update coming there that’s quite exciting. We are looking forward to the home crowd, there is obviously a lot of Lewis fans that are going to be there, and it is also a track where our car has worked well.

“So, we’ve got a few days just to regroup, to analyse the results of those and turn around the cars and get them ready for the next race in that updated bodywork, but we are optimistic for a better weekend.”

Mercedes has won all but two races at Silverstone since 2013.

Shovlin is confident the reigning world champions will fare better relative to Red Bull than it did during the Austria double-header.

“Well, it’s fair to say that Austria is a track that over the years, we have struggled at,” Shovlin added. "It’s a difficult circuit and one that doesn’t seem to suit our car and we are trying to understand those issues.

“Silverstone on the contrary though, is one that we have tended to go very well at and also Lewis really enjoys that circuit. Some of it is the layout and the high-speed nature but also the fantastic support he has there from the home crowd. So, we are looking forward to it, it’s still going to be a challenging race weekend.

“We’ve got the sprint format to contend with, but hopefully we can put on a better showing and take that fight to Red Bull.”