MONTMELO, Spain -- Mercedes technical director James Allison says his team has found 0.25s in lap time performance from the work around its new car's sidepods alone.
Mercedes is aiming for a fifth consecutive world championship this year and has set the quickest lap time in pre-season testing so far. The new W09 is a clear evolution of last year's championship-winning W08, but has a number of clear changes, including slimmed bodywork towards the rear of the car.
All teams aim to package the cooling systems within the sidepods as tightly as possible to ease the airflow to the rear of the car where it is worked by the floor and rear wing, and Allison said Mercdes had worked hard over the winter to make gains in that area.