Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsManor

New Manor ‘quite a big step better’

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Will Stevens says the updated Manor “feels quite a big step better” following practice for the British Grand Prix.

Manor has introduced a number of new parts at Silverstone including a tweaked front wing, updated sidepods, rear body work changes and a complete new floor. Having completed plenty of mileage with the upgrades on Friday, Stevens says he can immediately feel the difference in the MR03B even though it is still facing a power deficit.

“Friday was actually a really positive day,” Stevens told F1i. “As soon as I went out in FP1 the car felt good straight away and considering that’s the first time we put all the updates on the car, the balance of the car I’m really happy with already. It actually feels quite a big step better and I’m really happy with the direction we’re going in.

“The team has done a really good job to bring the package to here and I think it really does show that we are moving forward. Considering where we are with the engine and still with last year’s car, come qualifying it’s hard to know where we’ll be but I think we’ll be a lot closer than we have been previously. I’m really happy that we’ve brought improvements to here and I’m feeling really good on the track. The pace has been really strong and it’s nice to have that here.”

And Stevens believes Silverstone is a circuit which should have seen Manor much further off the pace, with the updates negating that deficit.

“This is a high speed circuit and fairly long straight as well, so if there was any circuit where you would say we’re going to be further behind it would be here, but actually this is the closest we’ve been the whole year. It really does show the updates are working and that’s what we need to push ahead with. We need to get more and more and I really do think the direction we’re going in with the car and everything that’s going to happen in the future I think can be really good for the team.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.