Valtteri Bottas doesn’t believe that the pecking order will be challenged by the forthcoming upgrades due to arrive at the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Finn, who won his first Formula 1 grand prix in Sochi with Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, agrees that a positive effect will be visible at all teams but owing to the resources enjoyed by the larger teams, be expects them to find the largest gains.
By now teams have had the advantage of gathering data at pre-season testing, four international races and in-season testing. This should give them more than enough to know where their weaknesses lie, and perhaps more importantly, the strengths of their rivals.
But Bottas anticipates the universal gain in lap times to almost cancel one another out and leave the running order pretty much unaltered.
“I think it’s just going to get quicker, every car is going to get a lot better through the season and always when there’s a big rule change and the progress is bigger, the steps are bigger, the more lap time gained during the year,” he said.
“I think it’s going to be the same for each team and I think the top teams with more resources can obviously improve more.
“Hopefully we can improve more but I don’t think there will be anything dramatic; just the cars are going to be quicker, more downforce really and better tyre understanding with the tracks and all of the compounds.”
Where as the majority are expected to implement numerous smaller changes, Red Bull Racing are rumoured to have an entirely new aerodynamic set-up to trial. They are hoping it will reduce their deficit to Mercedes and Scuderia Ferrari.