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Mercedes F1 team planning big update push for second test

Mercedes is set to bring a heavily-updated Formula 1 car to this week's second pre-season test, as it bids to build on a strong start to 2017 running.

The German manufacturer delivered impressive mileage and strong pace during last week's first test at Barcelona, showing no signs that its advantage had been eroded by F1's all-new regulations.

Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton completed race simulations on the second and third days respectively, and Mercedes' new recruit set the week's fastest lap, a 1m19.705s.

Teams are expected to bring new parts to the second test, which starts on Tuesday, and focus more on performance, and it has emerged Mercedes will be one of the outfits bringing a more extensive development package.

There have already been suggestions that the developments - allied to it pushing more on engine maps - could deliver a further two-seconds of performance, with times in the 1m18s region tipped.

"We are definitely hoping we can make good steps forward," Bottas said of the second test.

"From the running [in the first week], it's tricky to make a detailed analysis of where we are compared to the other teams, and we don't know what other teams are bringing, or for Melbourne.

"We are aiming to improve day-by-day, and now we need to work on all the things we tried.

"For me also, I need to take everything in I learnt, which was a massive amount.

"We'll try to analyse all that and try to make myself better."

Bottas conceded at the end of the first week of testing that his late shift to Mercedes from Williams for 2017 was a bigger deal than he anticipated.

He played down the significance of setting the fastest time, on ultra-softs on the third day, as the most important thing was understanding the car.

"It does not have a special meaning, because it is only testing and there is no reward for that," he said.

"We weren't particularly focusing on the lap times; the priority definitely for us all week was to get mileage in, plus work on any issues with the car if there's anything to come - because better here than in the races.

"The times for me are what they are; maybe [in the second week] we can do a bit of lap-time analysis on where we are.

"But what matters then is what people are bringing into Melbourne for their cars and what the performance is going to be there."

Zdroj: autosport.com