Manor chasing performance with test upgrades

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Manor is running a number of new parts during the Silverstone in-season test as it looks to improve its performance ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Pascal Wehrlein scored Manor's first point of 2016 at the Austrian Grand Prix, with the team's second top ten finish in its history leaving it ahead of Sauber in the constructors' championship. However, the British Grand Prix saw both cars retire early on and highlighted a lack of pace on high-downforce circuits which Manor is hoping to address during this week's test.

"We’ve got quite a few things to try and all of them on paper should be quite a bit better," Manor racing director Dave Ryan said ahead of the test. "They should be positive improvements to the car so we’re looking forward to that.”

And Ryan said the testing schedule includes more than just major set-up changes, with a number of updates set to be introduced.

“No it’s some new parts, quite a few new parts coming through. They’re all aimed at improving the performance, so we’ll see. You know what it’s like, all good in theory but let’s get it on the car and see how it works out.”

Manor is aiming to bounce back quickly from Sunday's disappointment, but Ryan acknowledges it may also struggle in Hungary and Germany.

“It was a tough day at the office I think is the best way to put it ... We clearly weren’t quick enough. Simple as that.

"Last Sunday was great to get a point but we all knew it was going to be tough this weekend and we’ve got tough races coming up. It’s all about doing the best you can and we did, it just didn’t work out [at Silverstone]."

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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.