Mercedes reveal: 'Plan is to introduce first major update in 2025 here'

16:16, 11 Apr

byKada Sarkozi

While Ferrari have introduced a great package for the Bahrain GP, Mercedes have also revealed such plans. Technical Director James Allison explained where a considerable update package can be brought by the German team.

Talking to GPblog among others, Allison explained that they still have updates present for the current weekend, a great package will also come later this season.

"We're certainly planning to bring a reasonable raft of stuff for Imola. But there are some things this weekend as well, nothing as flashy or outwardly visible as a floor, but things we’re interested in finding out how they perform."

Currently, Mercedes are second in the constructors' standings, but trail leader McLaren by 36 points. Allison also addressed the strengths and weaknesses of the W16 in Bahrain.

"We come back from every race weekend having plotted where we think we sit, just looking at sector times in qualifying and in the race. And the gaps in qualifying are very steady. We've been to three tracks now and the gap has been pretty much three tenths to a McLaren, two if we're feeling optimistic, much less to a Red Bull, sometimes us in front, sometimes a whisker behind, and generally us having the legs on the Ferrari."

The Technical Director continued. "In the race, the gap has been reasonably small, at say the last track we were only 10 or 12 seconds behind at the end of the race, but in Melbourne it was much larger. That is much more about whether the tyres are happy in the window or not. Over a single lap on new rubber, you can get most of what you need, but if they’re not happy over a longer run, then it will tell. And you can see the gap opening up to half a second, three quarters of a second. And this track will be a real test of that because of its very degrading nature"

Allison sets goals for Mercedes

"You can normally easily win championships with a two-tenths lead. However, we don’t just fight the people who are winning the race, we fight those nearest to us. And the gaps are way smaller than that there. We have to make sure that we can continue to put points over Ferrari, to make sure that we can beat Max in the Red Bull, and hopefully get closer to the McLarens who have done a fine job with their car this year," Allison concluded.

On the other hand, Mercedes had a bit of a rocky start to the weekend in Bahrain. While Toto Wolff praised reserve driver Frederik Vesti who suited up for FP1, Andrea Kimi Antonelli had to return to the pit lane only seven minutes into the session, as the Italian had an issue with his car.

This article was written in collaboration with Mitchel van der Hoef