[forzaferrari]

Ferrari will bring a new floor to the British Grand Prix in a bid to lift its performance in response to the major update packages that rival Mercedes introduced in Austria.
Aerodynamic chiefs at the Maranello outfit have been working on the new floor design, which should help improve the performance of the SF71H in the kind of high-speed corners experienced at Silverstone.

It is set to be used in Friday practice and, if it performs well, could be taken through for the remainder of the British GP weekend.
Despite Ferrari's main title rival having failed to score at the Austrian GP, the Maranello outfit was well aware that a major overhaul of the Mercedes W09 had allowed Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton to lock out the front row of the grid.
That is why it has pushed to gets its latest update ready for this weekend at Silverstone, where the outfit will have to cope with the thinner-tread Pirelli tyres that appear to suit Mercedes more.
Anything that can be done to help the balance of its car could pay dividends on a weekend where unexpected high temperatures could play a factor in tyre management.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner thinks that a repeat of what we saw in Austria last weekend, where tyre strategies were thrown out of the window because of high degradation, could be on the cards.

"Last year we had Kimi [Raikkonen] have a tyre blow out, and Sebastian [Vettel] blew a tyre as well," said Horner. "So they have introduced this new construction of tyre for the new surface races, and that has suited Mercedes incredibly well.
"Barcelona and Paul Ricard were both ironically the two tracks where they have had wins at so You can see why Toto (Wolff) has been campaigning to keep this tyre for the rest of the year"
"I think that they [Mercedes] will be very strong at Silverstone, but the temperatures if this heat wave continues; we see that these tyres are very sensitive to heat. That could be a really interesting variable thrown into the mix.
"Silverstone is always extremes, it either extremely cold, extremely wet or extremely windy. Could this year be extremely hot?"

[NeilP]

Who thought 0.4 mm could make that much difference to a tyre.

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'As I see it, they've had the design philosophy of their car mostly wrong in the hybrid era.'

I can think of about 9 teams that would trade that fragility and 'incorrect philosophy' for results over the last 4 years.

[morini]

Who thought 0.4 mm could make that much difference to a tyre.

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'As I see it, they've had the design philosophy of their car mostly wrong in the hybrid era.'

I can think of about 9 teams that would trade that fragility and 'incorrect philosophy' for results over the last 4 years.

I don't think the 0.4 mm makes much, if any difference. Temperature variations are exposing the teams and the performances are variable dependant on track / ambient temperatures much more than 0.4mm of rubber. Not just Mercedes either, Ferrari are the best in this department that much is clear, but Mercedes tyre management has improved as well. I can't actually believe I just typed that - if I had my way the drivers could go flat out right through every race without having to do this tyre management bullshit.

I think most of the teams would give their eye teeth to have adopted Mercedes design philosophy!!! It's done them proud in this era, they won last year without the all round best car and my monet is on them doing it again this year too. Granted, they can't afford another weekend like Austria, but (in my opinion) they are the strongest outright team and know where their own strengths / weaknesses lie.

I'm genuinely quite pleased it is this close at this stage. If last weekend went the way it should have then the championships would both have swung heavily in Mercedes favour. Don't get me wrong, I want Mercedes to win both again this year, but I also want it to be close right to the end.

[Antilochos]

Who thought 0.4 mm could make that much difference to a tyre.

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'As I see it, they've had the design philosophy of their car mostly wrong in the hybrid era.'

I can think of about 9 teams that would trade that fragility and 'incorrect philosophy' for results over the last 4 years.

I don't think the 0.4 mm makes much, if any difference. Temperature variations are exposing the teams and the performances are variable dependant on track / ambient temperatures much more than 0.4mm of rubber. Not just Mercedes either, Ferrari are the best in this department that much is clear, but Mercedes tyre management has improved as well. I can't actually believe I just typed that - if I had my way the drivers could go flat out right through every race without having to do this tyre management bullshit.

I think most of the teams would give their eye teeth to have adopted Mercedes design philosophy!!! It's done them proud in this era, they won last year without the all round best car and my monet is on them doing it again this year too. Granted, they can't afford another weekend like Austria, but (in my opinion) they are the strongest outright team and know where their own strengths / weaknesses lie.

I'm genuinely quite pleased it is this close at this stage. If last weekend went the way it should have then the championships would both have swung heavily in Mercedes favour. Don't get me wrong, I want Mercedes to win both again this year, but I also want it to be close right to the end.

Agree. Mercedes is the fastest car. Not to take anything away from Red Bull and Ferrari for last race results, but when it comes to Mercedes it was a fluke. Slim change it will happen again. They will come back strong at Silverstone.
They will take both championships I'm afraid (like to see them winning constructors, but don't like to see Hamilton win drivers).

[LotusLover]

I am not ruling out any unexpected surprises, personally I hope the gremlins stay for a while longer if only to hear LH radio rants, I honestly don’t want to hear “wow this crowd is so great” zzzzzz I reckon Kimi is finding a bit of form and may well shine this weekend

[forzaferrari]

All six cars using Mercedes Formula 1 engines have received slightly redesigned fuel pumps for the British Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton's retirement last weekend.
Hamilton stopped after a problem with a fuel pump fastener late in the race, which completed a double-DNF after teammate Valtteri Bottas retired early on after a power steering problem triggered a loss of hydraulics pressure.
Mercedes identified the cause of those faults and had fixes for both in place on Monday.
As the fuel pump is engine-related, it has rolled out a slightly modified design for the two works cars plus customer teams Williams and Force India for this weekend's race at Silverstone.
Both problems had not been experienced before, but Mercedes has already ruled out any link to its upgraded power unit that was introduced two weeks ago in France.

Hamilton is chasing a sixth victory at Silverstone, where he believes Mercedes' aero package will shine.
The team's double retirement masked the gains made from back-to-back upgrades for the engine and aerodynamics respectively, which have helped it secure pole for the last two races.

Hamilton said the way Mercedes has responded to problems this season has "really united us more than any other year".

"While it was a painful experience it has brought us closer and made us stronger," he said.
"There have been some fixes. Immediately after the race, as soon as they got the car back, that evening there was a fix that was designed and put into test mode.
"The team were super on it and I am confident we have done everything we can to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Hamilton said the speed of Mercedes finding a solution was "mind-blowing" and Bottas was also effusive in praising the team.
The Finn, who visited Mercedes' base on Tuesday and Wednesday, said: "I followed a bit of the process of how they found the issue and how they reacted to fix it and make sure it doesn't happen again.
"It's really impressive. There were a lot of talks on Sunday night to identify it already, they did a lot overnight, and by Monday it was pretty much fixed."

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Ferrari floor and bodywork updates

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferra...ed-1056301

[forzaferrari]

Team tech updates

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-te...gp-1056374

[Monster Hesh]

I don't think that links font is big enough forza.

[forzaferrari]

Haha...dont know what happened there and too bloody lazy lazy to fix it

[forzaferrari]

Mercedes Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas has taken a fresh power unit for Friday in Silverstone while the engine he used in France and Austria undergoes further checks, putting the Finn on the bubble for penalties.

Although the cause for his retirement last time out at the Red Bull Ring was a hydraulic issue, the team has some concerns that after he stopped suddenly and parked on track, heat soak issues may have caused some problems for the power unit.
There were similar worries about Lewis Hamilton’s car, after the world champion was halted by a fuel pressure problem, but his power unit has been passed fit.
However, Bottas has been given a new V6, turbo, MGU-H and MGU-K for Silverstone. In each case it’s the last one he can use before penalties kick in.
After being checked over at Brixworth, the Austria engine will be run on track on Friday in Hockenheim, before being returned to the pool for further use, assuming that it is deemed to be healthy.
A team spokesman said: “It’s a precautionary measure as PU2 suffered high temps from heat soak after retirement in Austria so might carry some risk. So he is taking a fresh one here then we will run the other one again in Hockenheim to check it properly.”