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Mercedes upgrade not enough to match Ferrari's straight-line speed

Mercedes upgrade "not enough to match Ferrari's straight-line speed"

06-06-2019 18:39
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Valtteri Bottas believes that Ferrari will still be faster in a straight line despite their latest engine upgrade. The Silver Arrows will bring their improved engine to Canada this weekend and will hope that it will be reliable enough to maintain their level of dominance. 

"For sure the engine upgrade is very welcome," said the Finnish driver to MotorsportWeek. "That is thanks to all of the work at Brixworth.

"Obviously it's something we need to see physically how it actually behaves on-track and everything. We also need to make sure that it's reliable.

"We're expecting already from a fresh engine a tiny bit of power gain, but we're expecting a small step forward. We don't think it's quite yet enough to match Ferrari's straight-line speed. They will have the upper-hand on that, but we have our strengths in other areas. I look forward to feeling it on Friday."

"I think it's coming at the right time because the first engine is running towards the end of its life, so we will have needed a new one anyway.

"But it's nice to have the upgrade here, definitely, for example compared to Monaco. The engine is much more valuable here, so it's good timing for that. Like I said earlier, we need to see how it actually feels and works, and how much it is going to benefit compared to the old one."

It will be interesting to see if this upgrade will enhance Mercedes' performance. Rival teams will be hoping that they are hit with a reliability issue and that they can pick up some points at the race.