Formula 1 British GP

Mercedes' F1 upgrade revealed ahead of British GP

Mercedes has offered a first glimpse of the updates that it hopes will move it closer to Red Bull in the fight for Formula 1 glory at the British Grand Prix.

Matt Somerfield Jonathan Noble

Edited: Jul 17, 2021, 5:31 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12 detail

With the German car manufacturer having not won since the Spanish Grand Prix back in May, it is keeping its fingers crossed that the developments will bring it a much-needed performance step.

For while main rival Red Bull has unleashed an aggressive aero upgrade programme on a race-by-race basis, Mercedes has instead been more conservative with its changes.

So far it had only made small adjustments to its floor and diffuser as part of a rectification programme, with a larger update package seemingly always their preferred route rather than trickling through smaller tweaks.

The team had openly spoken about a potential final development arriving at Silverstone, with the new designs spotted in the pitlane ahead of the British GP.

Rather than being visually dramatic, the changes are more nuanced – but could still play a role in helping better manage airflow.

The bargeboards and sidepod deflectors have been fettled in order that they work together more harmoniously, with the boomerang winglet now split into several layers.

The skyscraper deflector at the front has been cut down and the slats extended forward in order to coerce the airflow earlier than before, a design choice that we've seen many others take as they have optimised the area.

The two ‘r’ shaped vanes at the base of the sidepod deflector array have been joined by a third, longer vane that sits beneath the main skyscraper deflector. This has also been disconnected from the sidepod wing, much like we see elsewhere up and down the grid, with the horizontal wing turned upward at its tip to invoke a specific flow structure.

Read Also:

In keeping with these alterations, the design team has also optimised the area just behind, as four outwardly angled fins can now be found mounted between the edge of the floor and the sidepod.

Furthermore the ‘wavy’ floor edge has been reduced to just a single kink with the flap mounted behind converted into a two-piece arrangement.

Mercedes drivers both welcomed the efforts by Mercedes to improve its W12, but were not getting too carried in expecting a dramatic change in fortunes.

Lewis Hamilton said: “There's a lot of changes on the car but it's not a massive update in terms of the gap [to Red Bull] that we've seen in the races, but it definitely helps us in terms of closing that gap quickly.”

Asked about what sort of lap time gain the team was hoping from the changes, Valtteri Bottas said: “I can't put a direct number. It is nothing huge, it's nothing small. But we'll see, obviously already on Friday, when we find out how fast the cars are on a single lap.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Russell explains how he made a "massive step" to reach Q3

Next article British F1 GP sprint qualifying race: Start time, how to watch, channel

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Carson Kvapil gets Rodney Childers a clock and the O'Reilly Chase is wide open now

NASCAR O'Reilly

NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly

Martinsville II

28 min

Carson Kvapil gets Rodney Childers a clock and the O'Reilly Chase is wide open now

Drivers believe softer bumpers will impact NASCAR Cup race at Martinsville

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Martinsville II

32 min

Drivers believe softer bumpers will impact NASCAR Cup race at Martinsville

Hailie Deegan wins ARCA West finale as Huddleston claims another championship

ARCA

ARCA ARCA 47 min

Hailie Deegan wins ARCA West finale as Huddleston claims another championship

Liam Lawson disqualified from F1 qualifying in Mexico – here's why

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

3 h

Liam Lawson disqualified from F1 qualifying in Mexico – here's why

Feature

Discover prime content

Why Isack Hadjar deserves a medal, not a warning, after paddock "incident"

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Stuart Codling

Why Isack Hadjar deserves a medal, not a warning, after paddock "incident"

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Mexico GP

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Mexico GP

What’s the state of play at F1’s smallest team?

Formula 1

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What’s the state of play at F1’s smallest team?

Is history really repeating itself? What Christian Horner’s Adrian Newey claim says about Aston Martin and Red Bull

Formula 1

By Ronald Vording

Is history really repeating itself? What Christian Horner’s Adrian Newey claim says about Aston Martin and Red Bull

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts