Mercedes is set to receive a significant performance upgrade soon, according to Motorsport.
The Silver Arrows’ dominance has been significantly challenged by Red Bull this season, with the Milton-Keynes outfit’s car being as fast as Mercedes’, if not more.
At this point in the season, Max Verstappen is still the favourite to win his maiden world title. However, Mercedes plan on making it hell for him to get there, and will not be backing down so easily.
Reports have emerged saying that although Mercedes stopped the development of the W12 after the Hungarian GP, they will still eke out more performance from their current car.
This could mean grid penalties in the races to come, but they believe the cons are minimal compared to the pros.
Managing Director of Mercedes-AMG HPP, Hywel Thomas, sounded convinced in his recent interview, where he suggested that the team had found a way to extract more performance from the power unit without affecting its reliability.
This will be done by tweaking aspects of the turbocharger and the hybrid setup in the powertrain, and will curiously be done only on Lewis Hamilton’s car.
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Mercedes’ strategy is complex, yet brilliant. Hamilton is running an engine which is nearing the end of its life. Even if the update ruins his engine, he can take his penalty at the Turkish GP.
Valtteri Bottas recently took a new engine at the Italian GP, so the experimentation won’t be on his car.
If Mercedes are successful with their update, Hamilton will enter the Turkish GP with a new engine that will be faster than Red Bull’s. This could swing the momentum towards his favour.
Moreover, Bottas will also get it down the road, giving double advantage to Mercedes over Red Bull, Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
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