Mercedes claims the new sidepod design on its W09 is worth around a quarter of a second alone and therefore, along with many other changes, it would wipe the floor in a race against last year's title-winning W08. The new car, designed under the leadership of technical director James Allison, is favourite to head the field once again given its dominance last year and Allison is expecting a huge step forward from an aerodynamic standpoint alone, regardless of any power unit developments. 'We’ve done an awful lot of work down there [around the sidepods] to try to make that car really, really slender,' said the Briton when comparing the W09 to the 12-time race winning W08. “If...
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