Formula One World Champions Mercedes conducted a two day test at the home of British Motorsport at Silverstone with both Six Time World Champion Lewis Hamilton and teammate Valterri Bottas getting back into the habit of driving a racing car.
10th June 2020
Mercedes finished their two days of testing at Silverstone with Lewis Hamilton behind the wheel of the car today while Valterri Bottas drove yesterday.
Both drivers used the double-title winning 2018 W09 during the two days while the team got familiar with the new extensive health and safety protocols. Team Boss Toto Wolff, Bottas and Hamilton were wearing face-masks while engineers operating close to the drivers in the cockpit were wearing face shields.
Aiming for a seventh world championship, Hamilton was thrilled to back behind the car. He said: “Honestly, it felt just great to be back in the car, a lot of fun.”
The FIA announced that the season would start on the 5th of July in Austria with a calendar of eight initial races being published.
All the teams on the grid have re-opened their factories to work on the current 2020 cars after what turned into a nine-week shutdown period ended.
Under F1's Testing Regulations, teams can only use cars that are at least two years old hence why Mercedes opted to use their 2018 car and can only do 100km a limited number of days a year.
A number of other teams are expected to conduct similar warm-up tests in the coming days. Ferrari will give Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel the chance to get behind a car soon.
Racing Point will it the track next week on Wednesday 17th of June with Lance Stroll getting behind the RP20.