Mercedes showed an impressive performance during the pre-season tests in Barcellona. The Silver Arrows were pointed as the favourite for the victory in Melbourne prior to the race cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following the shutdown period, Mercedes has now returned to work and prepare for the 2020 season. James Allison underlined that the Brackley's team is currently developing the W11 and aims to bring the first upgrades in Austria for the start of the championship.

"If you imagine where the launch car was and the car that would have gone to Australia, that was frozen around about Christmas," remarked Allison in a video on Petronas' social media.

Allison specified that the first upgrades were originally set to be developed in March to improve the W11 performance quickly. However, the shutdown forced the team to delay the plan.

"There was the whole of January, whole of February, March, all making the car quicker in the wind tunnel and also in the design departments.

"We got quite a lot of ideas about how to make it quicker, and quite a lot of those ideas were already in process through the design office before we were forced to shut down nine weeks ago.

"Our challenge now is to make sure that quarter of a year of development can get off the drawing boards and onto the car as swiftly as possible.

"We hope to have a chunk of that for the first race in Aust ria, and the season that follows will of course take as much of the development as fast as we can get it onto the car in turn."

Mercedes' technical director concluded remarking that the break has been tougher for the driver than the team. Nevertheless, he is confident that Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will be well prepared as the season starts.

"I expect mentally it's tougher for the drivers than for the team, this period of waiting," Allison said.

"For the drivers, all the peaks of emotion are amplified, the highs are higher, the lows are lower. To get yourself ready to go at the start of a season, and then have it taken away from you the way that it was in Melbourne, that's tough I think for the drivers to take.

"It will be a sign of their resilience and competitiveness to see them bristle back to work with all the vim and vigour that is necessary to be right on it from the start.

"I have little doubt both Lewis and Valtteri will be ready to go when it matters in Austria."