Hamilton encouraged by W11 after 'smooth' shakedown

Lewis Hamilton is pleased with the smooth shakedown of his new Mercedes W11 car at Silverstone, stating the feel of the car doesn't seem to differ much from the end of 2019.

After launching their slightly revised livery earlier this week, Mercedes made its 2020 on-track debut on Friday, with Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas setting the opening laps in the new car at the venue of the British Grand Prix.

The Silver Arrows are going in hunt of another pair of world championships, having claimed each title so far in the turbo-hybrid era that began in 2014.

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Speaking after the event, Hamilton stated the event ran smoothly but cautioned that there is little to be known until pre-season testing gets underway next week.

"I've just come out from being on the track. I've been doing this a long, long time but every time you get in, the excitement is exactly the same, if not more," Hamilton said.

"The car felt great. Obviously there's so much work that goes into building this car, you're only one of two that get to drive it.

"So you're really trying to pay attention to your surroundings, the seating position and feeling you're getting back from the steering column and balance, a little bit of the balance you're trying to get a feel for.

"But it's not that easy with the track not being perfect. But it all ran smoothly, we won't really know until we get to testing how good of a machine it is in terms of how big of an improvement it is.

"But it didn't feel like a big departure from where we were in Abu Dhabi, so that's a good start."

Hamilton will be back behind the wheel of the W11 next week for pre-season testing. The opening day of running is February 19th, with three consecutive days of on-track action occurring before test one comes to a close.