The brand ran the first of its new-spec cars at Zandvoort in the hands of Christian Vietoris, with six more set to follow for the final round of the 2014 season.

The car, which features heavily updated aerodynamics, was the quickest of the Mercedes in free practice at Zandvoort, before Vietoris qualified just 17th due to a power steering problem.

In the race he was again the best of the Mercedes, coming home fifth after a safety car intervention greatly helped his standards-to-options tyre strategy.

Despite the promising debut, Vietoris did not give much away about the performance of the new car when asked by AUTOSPORT.

“It’s too early to say, to be honest,” he said. “When you’re updating a car you expect it to be better.

“We expect it [to be], and we hope we can close the gap to BMW and Audi. But at the moment it’s too early to say.

“The two hours we had [on Saturday] is just not enough time to set the car up properly, and to actually learn the car and understand the car.

“So it’s too early to say what potential is in the car or not.

“It has to be a step in the right direction. It just has to be. The gap to BMW and Audi is big.

“Even though we won three races this year, it’s always in tricky conditions and through having a lighter car than the others.

“So we have to make a step. And I just hope that the step we made is big enough to close the gap.

“I’m not sure yet, I’m not convinced yet, we just have to unlock all of the potential that is hopefully in the car. I hope that there is more to come.

“I would like to say more, but I can’t.”