Mercedes: 'We have solved the biggest problem of 2018'

Mercedes are claiming to have solved one big problem which plagued them throughout the 2018 season. James Allison, the technical director, suggests the new W10 will be 'softer' on the rear tyres. He's also confident the team will be able to perform on every track type in 2019.

"The handling of the W09 was a big improvement over the rather idiosyncratic W08. We managed to be competitive at tracks which had plagued us in recent years," Allison said at the Mercedes launch on Wednesday.

"However, notwithstanding this improvement, we were still not as good as some of our competitors at preserving the performance of the rear tyres.

"We have worked hard on the suspension and aerodynamic characteristics to deliver a car that will be much kinder to its tyres - enough, we hope, to allow us to be competitive at all phases of the race and at each track on the calendar.