The new Mercedes W11 has run for the first time at Silverstone.
Valtteri Bottas put the first laps on the team’s 2020 challenger at the home of the British Grand Prix. Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton took over the team’s first new chassis later in the day.The team’s technical director James Allison said that although the technical rules remain largely unchanged compared to last year, the team has made some fundamental changes to its successful 2019 design to ensure it has scope for development this year.
“The regulations stayed largely the same for the new year, so for us it was all about trying to make sure that we don’t run out of development steam on a package that worked pretty well
for us last year,” he said. “If we had continued merely to add flourishes to the 2019 baseline, we would have found some gains, but in all likelihood diminishing returns would be kicking in by now.
“We wanted to change aspects of the concept of the car – aspects that would be completely impossible to change within a season – to give us a more fertile platform for the new season. We tried to make a few well-chosen architectural changes to keep the development slope strong even though the regulations are now a little bit longer in the tooth.”
Pictures: 2020 Mercedes F1 car
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2020 F1 season
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- Bottas vs Rosberg: Hamilton’s Mercedes team mates compared after 78 races each
- F1 revenues fell by $877 million in Covid-struck 2020 season
- Hamilton and Mercedes finally announce new deal for 2021 season
- F1 audience figures “strong” in 2020 despite dip in television viewers
Boomerang
14th February 2020, 11:27
Why do I have a strong feeling of watching another championship wining car. These sidepods are true masterpiece of engineering.
Simeon Simeonoff (@simeonoff)
14th February 2020, 11:44
Status quo bias? Or probably a ton of other cognitive biases based on the fact that the team has won the last 6 championship titles?
I would love to hear more about the masterpiece? To me they look like they just went the way Red Bull, Ferrari and most of the grid with their sidepods design, nothing revolutionary.
Oxnard (@montalvo)
14th February 2020, 13:08
Mercedes is almost the last team to adopt this kind of sidepods.
Dawn Keebals
14th February 2020, 11:51
Hamilton wouldn’t sniff the podium in another car , Max is correct, Hamilton’s victory’s and podiums are car dependent.
NoName (@noname)
15th February 2020, 11:13
@Dawn Keebals You must be new in F1 if you truly believe that nonsense. back in 2009 Hamilton made it to P3 from P17 while the McLaren was two seconds slower than the Brawn GP’s and RBR’s only to be disqualified, Schumacher nor Senna never achieved that, nor we Verstappen ever achieve that and Lewis won two races with that car. Verstappen should keep his big mouth shut.
WimB
15th February 2020, 15:20
Ah, I fondly remember the days when Max dragged his utterly uncompetitive Tori Rosso to victories and podiums … Oh wait, his podiums and victories only came when he was driving a Red Bull, one of the top cars on the grid. But that is just a coincidence, right? How goes that saying about glass houses again?
WimB
15th February 2020, 15:22
Tor*o* Rosso.
Typing on a phone keyboard, not my strong suit!
Chaitanya
14th February 2020, 11:58
So still a long wheelbase car.
Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
14th February 2020, 12:09
Can’t deny it worked well for them. Not gonna argue with 3 consecutive double titles
daf
14th February 2020, 12:22
Oh man I’ve time travelled back 3 years again
Gavin Campbell
14th February 2020, 12:27
Random question but how are they allowed to run slick Yellow Pirelli rubber for a filming day? I thought they had to use the blue grooved demonstration tyres (like you see on the Alpha Romeo shots)
pSynrg (@psynrg)
14th February 2020, 13:08
That’s it, isn’t it! We’ve caught them out cheating! That’s the only way to explain their phenomenal success. I always knew Lewis Hamilton was a fraud! Yellow tyres in pre-testing tests, that’s the secret!!!!!
Riantama (@rntm)
14th February 2020, 13:28
Yellow slick tyre https://www.racefans.net/2020/02/14/first-picture-new-alfa-romeo-makes-its-debut-on-track/racefansdotnet-20200214-100508-1/
Gavin Campbell
14th February 2020, 16:18
I’m pretty sure someones done their due dillagence at Merc (Also how would they of got the tyres if it was illicit? – Pirelli control the entire supply of F1 rubber).
And yes looks like the Alfa has also ran in the yellow later on – the first pictures were them running the wet grooved tyres.
Reading into it I believe Pirelli just nominate a tyre (more than likely a 2019 tyre they have left over) whereas I think they used to make specific demo tyres.
Andy (@andycz)
14th February 2020, 20:40
Very interesting hole under the rear suspension…
James Neutron (@phillyspur)
14th February 2020, 21:56
I’m surprised to Lewis already riding the kerbs on a shakedown run. Confidence or foolhardiness?
kenji
15th February 2020, 0:11
Not one image of the rear of the car!! Is that media complicity with Mercedes?
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
15th February 2020, 6:29
I suspect the media company is employed by Mercedes, maybe even owned by them, so all the images we see here would have Toto’s approval. After all, even photo-journalists have bills to pay, so if the photographer can earn “extra” by not photographing certain bits … is that wrong?
iCarbs (@icarby)
15th February 2020, 8:22
Pictures…
Let’s see what testing and the first gp brings.