Mercedes boss James Allison is optimistic that recent upgrades to their car will benefit Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are expected to perform better at the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix, according to Mercedes technical director James Allison.
Russell finished sixth at the last British Grand Prix, while Hamilton finished third. According to Allison, the team’s new front wing will significantly affect their performances in Hungary after showing some “promising early signs” at Silverstone.
According to Allison, Mercedes tweaked their front wing for the British Grand Prix, which should enhance the car’s balance and performance through the slower range of the turns. Additionally, the fact that the Hungarian course is largely composed of slow turns should make Mercedes more competitive.
“The new front-wing is of course designed to make us go faster,” Allison said. “That’s why we do all our things.
“The specific characteristics of this new front-wing that we are excited about, is that it should improve the balance and performance of the car through the slower range of the corners.
“Now, Silverstone is famous for lots of things but lots and lots of slow corners is not one of them.
“What we took as a comfort from Silverstone is that in the slower parts of the track, we were looking pretty decently competitive,” he added. “That’s a tick in the box for this new front-wing.
“But I guess it will only be when we get to Hungary, which is a track made up almost entirely of slower stuff, that we’ll get to know for sure.
“Early sings are promising, the new front-wing seemed to do what we expected and hopefully it will bring us more at tracks which have a wider range of slow corners.”
Allison’s remarks follow Hamilton’s admission that he ‘really doesn’t care’ where he places this year and is more concerned with making sure Mercedes is well-positioned to ‘strike the ground running’ from the first race of next season.
“We have a new wing this weekend so it’s not a huge update, but people work so hard just for that wing so I’m hoping that it helps us take a step in the right direction,” he said.
“Bit by bit as we bolt on these things, the car’s becoming more and more of a race car. Look if we’re competing like last year towards the end of this season.
“On one side that’s a good thing on another, the other teams have probably switched off and focused on the next year.
“I really don’t care what position I finish in this year. I’m just focused on just trying to give the best development information for the team, working with the guys to make sure we steer this car in the right way and when we start the first race or the first test next year we hit the ground running.”
