Mercedes reveal F1 upgrade plan to combat Ferrari threat

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has revealed how the team is maintaining its Formula 1 title push without bringing sizable upgrade packages like rivals Ferrari and Red Bull. 

While Ferrari and Red Bull have both brought significant upgrade packages to the track in recent weeks, Mercedes has instead introduced smaller, more regular updates.

Recently, team principal Toto Wolff said, "We're a little bit surprised that Ferrari can throw these huge updates at the car in the way they do." This is largely due to the cost cap regulations, which limit how much a team can spend during a set period. 

This drew ire from his Ferrari counterpart Fred Vasseur, who commented: “When Red Bull is developing, or when Mercedes is developing, they are geniuses. When we are developing, we are cheating."

Speaking on the latest episode of the Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show, Shovlin addressed Mercedes' upgrade plan. 

"We're bringing performance to it," he said. "We haven't done a massive kit like some of our competitors. But every week, we're trying to bring performance to just keep ourselves ahead at the moment,

"We're lucky that we've got a car that works across a whole range of tracks. Well, probably not lucky. I think we've done a good job at engineering a car that works across a full range of tracks.

"A lot of prep goes into the circuits to make sure that we land the car in the right place and we can perform well. We had a couple of circuits recently, like Monaco and Austria, that have been tough places for us over the last few years. It was great that we could turn it around there.

"But Spa is a really weird track, difficult from an energy point of view. So there's a lot of work we've got to do to make sure we can hit the ground running."

Speaking at the British Grand Prix, George Russell conceded that he does not expect Mercedes to bring many upgrades to Belgium or Hungary prior to the summer break. 

"The car's been extremely consistent every single race so far," he said. "We have been surprised at how many upgrades some teams are bringing, but maybe they'll pay the price towards the end of the season. 

"When we're planning our upgrades, it's not this side of the break. We can just review during the summer break if you pull the trigger slightly earlier on those upgrades or not. So, it's just a balancing act. But, as Toto said, we have been a bit surprised by how many [updates] some other teams have brought."