Mercedes-AMG Motorsport was pleased with the shakedown of their brand new W11 at Silverstone today with team hierarchy happy with the new cars’ opening day of running.
Technical director James Allison was happy on how the opening day of running went as the team hopes to smooth out any issues before pre-season begins next week in Barcelona.
“The shakedown has always been important, but it is particularly precious this year,” explained Allison. “It’s our last chance to make sure all is well ahead of the first official day of Winter Testing.
“If all goes well in the shakedown then we will be well placed to roll out the garage at nine o’clock in Barcelona and just start hitting the laps.”
As well as checking that all systems are working properly on the W11, Allison hopes the team can get the most out of the new power unit for the season ahead in order to maintain their advantage over Ferrari and Red Bull for the upcoming season.
“With a shorter winter testing programme, that last ticking everything off at the shakedown is proportionally more important so we are determined to squeeze every drop of goodness from it that we can.”
The team will compete over 100km of running today at Silverstone whilst Valtteri Bottas will drive in the morning and Lewis Hamilton will drive in the afternoon.
