Photo: LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
It’s been a bumpy (pun intended) but consistent year for Mercedes-AMG in Formula One. The UK-based German outfit has yet to win a race in 2022 and have lacked pace compared to main rivals Red Bull and Ferrari.
The problem may not be fixable this year, seen as how it’s the entire design of the W13 car that has proven to not be ideal with regards to the new ground effect regulations. Aside from the ride being too harsh, the car appears to produce most of its downforce as close to the ground as possible, which has proven problematic – Red Bull, for instance, don’t have this issue.
So then, what went wrong? Well, according to team boss Toto Wolff, his engineers lost a lot of time early in the year because of insufficient data.
“We lacked the tools, the simulations and the understanding in uncovering the problems that we created, with the way the car was developed,” said Wolff, as quoted by Motorsport.
“We couldn’t run it where we wanted to run it aerodynamically, and mechanically it was never in the sweet spot. It took us months to undo some of the steps we’ve done. So, it’s not that I believe we’ve discovered the Holy Grail and we understand everything and it’s going to be a blast next year.”
“But this is now a crucial period. Literally over the next one to two months we need, with a certain degree of precision, to understand what needs to be done for next year.”
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton still sees the potential in this year’s car, saying that they’ve got plenty of downforce, which unfortunately can’t be utilized to its full extent “in some places.”
The team has yet to rule out going with a completely different design concept for next year’s W14 race car, but no decision has been taken as of today, at least not publicly.
So then, what went wrong? Well, according to team boss Toto Wolff, his engineers lost a lot of time early in the year because of insufficient data.
“We lacked the tools, the simulations and the understanding in uncovering the problems that we created, with the way the car was developed,” said Wolff, as quoted by Motorsport.
“We couldn’t run it where we wanted to run it aerodynamically, and mechanically it was never in the sweet spot. It took us months to undo some of the steps we’ve done. So, it’s not that I believe we’ve discovered the Holy Grail and we understand everything and it’s going to be a blast next year.”
“But this is now a crucial period. Literally over the next one to two months we need, with a certain degree of precision, to understand what needs to be done for next year.”
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton still sees the potential in this year’s car, saying that they’ve got plenty of downforce, which unfortunately can’t be utilized to its full extent “in some places.”
The team has yet to rule out going with a completely different design concept for next year’s W14 race car, but no decision has been taken as of today, at least not publicly.
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