The Mercedes Fo🍃rmula 1 team is still trying to fully understand its upgraded aerodynamic package, although it is confident the update will perform as hoped.

Mercedes introduced a major 💝aero uཧpgrade last time out at Hockenheim, including a cooling update to improve its overheating weakness, but mixe🐬d weatheꦛr conditions and a nightmare race meant drawing any clear conclusions proved difficult.

Desღpite its significant development, the Mercedes duo were beaten to pole position for this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Lewis Hamilton insisted his side’s update is not a “negative at all”, but suspects Mercedes’ rivals 𒆙are developing at a “steeper pace”.

“We are still tryin𒁃g to understand it,” Hamilton said.

“I think there are bits of i𒉰t that are better and bits of it that are the same. So as I said the other day, we’re just constantly trying to understand it and improve it and I don’t think it’s a negative at all.

“We definitely have moved forward but clearly the others continue to move forward at the sa♓me time, at a steeper pace, maybe.”

Bottas, who missed out on his fifth pole of 2019 by just 0.018s, stressed Mercedes’ latest upgrade has been a “reaso🐎nable step forward”.

“Based on everything we saw with the new package and analysis after last weekend as well it’s working as it should, so it’s a reasonab𒊎le step forward in terms of downforce and efficiency,” he explained.

“I guess other teams ar𒈔e moving ahead as well, forward as well with the performance but for sure we kind of expected ജto have a bit of a step compared to others but I think they are improving as well.

“It’s still a development race for quite some while before thin💦gs are done.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said he i💙s “100 percent sure” the aero update will deliver the expected performance once the team is able to get on top oไf extracting its full potential.

“We༒ are 10♔0 percent sure that the upgrade delivers on the downforce, but like any major change, tuning the car is not always trivial,” Wolff added.

“Therefore, we h🦂ope that a front wing compare would help us in understanding and it did. But at the e❀nd, both drivers decided to run the new configuration for qualifying.”