James Allison tells how he and his Mercedes colleague adapted the Formula 1 car. Lewis Hamilton already told us after the first two free practice sessions that he was extremely happy with the brand new W15. Designer Allison explains that feedback from the drivers does not actually play a big role at all in designing a new car.

"Every year we try to make the car faster, by all means available to us. The drivers have their input and we do our best to take that into account, but they are really only a small factor in deciding which way a car goes. So they are only part of the total input the car gets, and I don't really know what to say about it other than that," Allison told GPblog and other media.

Allison thinks of season with good developments

"Last year we changed the layout of the sidepod. We changed it last year mainly so we didn't have to wonder if it was the sidepods that ruined it for us. In the end, it didn't make a huge difference and we just moved on from that point," explained the 56-year-old Englishman.

Besides Hamilton, George Russell also said he had a good feeling about Mercedes' new car. Allison is therefore optimistic about the year ahead. "I think over the 24 races of the season it was going to produce good developments," he said.