Mercedes May Not Be Done Yet With 2021 F1 Upgrades, According to James Allison

Mercedes entered the British Grand Prix on the back foot after a streak of five winless races, assisting Red Bull to lead the constructors’ championship.

But with the potentially major upgrade to W12, the Brackley-based team secured their fourth victory of the season at Silverstone. And now, Mercedes chief technical officer, James Allison, has hinted at further future updates to the team’s machinery.

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What did James Allison say?

As quoted by the official Formula 1 website, Mercedes chief technical officer, James Allison claims few tweaks to the W12 are still possible during the rest of the season.

“We came home from the weekend pretty chipper about the upgrade. Is there any more to come? There may be here and there, but in the vast sort of main industrial effort of our development programme–that was the last big package that we will bring this year,” said James Allison.

“But there will be a few tweaks here and there where we can see efficiently that we can bring some performance without distracting us from the big effort that is now going into next year’s car.”

Lewis Hamilton benefited by Mercedes simulator: Toto Wolff

Many drivers spent time on simulators to know their car and to get the very best from their machinery before heading into any race weekends while Hamilton has been more reluctant to do so.

The seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton earlier this year revealed that he’s not a big fan of simulators. However, with increasing competition with Red Bull and back-to-back defeats in Austria, the Knight made a u-turn.

And after posting the fastest time in qualifying at British GP, the reigning champion revealed he had been on the simulators before Friday’s free practice. And his team principal, Toto Wolff, believes that the 36-year-old has benefited from using the simulators.

“Yes, the simulator wasn’t his most favorite tool in the past. But I think we’ve developed it to a level that is quite good and made it best in class, and he’s started to see the benefits of it,” said Toto Wolff.

“This fight is so tough that you need to just grab every single marginal gain, and that’s why we’ve progressed together to better understand the car also with the tool of the simulator.”

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With the combined advantages of the upgrades and the simulator, do you think Hamilton & Co. have begun their upward trajectory for the reason? Or was Silverstone a one-off blip in Max Verstappen’s championship-winning season?