Mercedes is continuing its quest to unlock the potential of its new floor upgrade, which was first introduced at the Belgian Grand Prix and which will undergo another back-to-back test in Friday’s FP1.
The aero element was first put to the task in the opening practice session at the Belgium Grand Prix, but despite positive data the team ultimately reverted to its previous spec floor for the remainder of the race weekend.
At Zandvoort, the Brackely squad committed to its new floor for the duration of the three-day event, but fresh doubts emerged in the wake if the team’s subdued performance in the Netherlands where George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished a distant seventh and eighth respectively.
Mercedes technical director James Allison admitted that "we don't fully know" how the new floor is performing, leading the outfit to continue evaluating the upgrade in Monza.
George Russell, who will have Andrea Kimi Antonelli take over his car for the FP1 session at Monza, revealed that while the floor upgrade played a role, there were other factors contributing to the team's performance decline.
"One of the changes we made to the car – that was probably was not quite the direction we wanted to go," he explained, quoted by Motorsport.com.
"But it wasn't quite that obvious in the moment, during the race weekend, and it was only afterwards when we did the analysis.
"It's sort of like 'right, that's the area where we lost out and we need to avoid that at all costs moving forward,'" he said.
©Mercedes
Despite the challenges, Russell sees the Monza weekend as another valuable opportunity to test the Spa floor.
“Ultimately, when you bring an upgrade to the car, you're talking a tenth or two maximum, but a performance can swing by a number of tenths race to race,” he added.
“So, if you have an off weekend, which coincides with an upgrade, people are very quick to say, ‘it must be the upgrade’.
“But if you do six races in a row of the same package, your performance can fluctuate by half a second compared to your rivals.”
Russell expressed confidence in the floor's performance and again attributed Mercedes’ Zandvoort struggles to other factors.
“So, I'm confident the floor is working as we expect. And I think the problems we faced in Zandvoort weren't due to the upgrade,” he added.
“Now, we've got another opportunity this weekend, and maybe we conclude something different after Monza. But I'm confident it's working as we think it is.”
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