Mercedes entered the new season similarly to the last one. The W14 single-seater is definitely not enough for the best. An avalanche of strong words and big statements started from the team, but we don’t know what to imagine under them. Therefore, let’s hear the words of the technical director of Mercedes personally.
Toto Wolff openly talks to the media about changing the concept and changing the direction of development. But will it also mean widening the sides? The head of the stable himself said that this question goes far beyond the sides, the importance of which has been denied in Mercedes for a long time.
Under “concept change”, we can theoretically imagine keeping the sides at the current width. Also the technical director of the team Mike Elliott admitted to the world that the definition of “concept” is basically quite loose and broad.
“The simple answer is that it means different things to different people,” he said in Mercedes’ traditional post-VC Saudi Arabia briefing posted on social media. “I think after Bahrain we had to accept that we are not where we want to be and that we have to look at everything we can do to improve our performance. There is a considerable gap between us and the front that we must close.’
“So the engineers are frantically researching the aerodynamics, researching the shape of the car, for example the geometry of the sidewalls or the geometry of the floor, to see if we missed something.”
“However, we are also exploring the world of simulations to see if we are focusing on the right things and if we are pushing aerodynamics in the right direction. We are also examining the mechanical adjustment of the monopost to see if we have overlooked something. What else can we add to the car to improve performance? At the same time, we are trying to do it as quickly as possible, because we want to get back to the front,” appointed Elliott your team’s “worklist”.
Even after the Bahrain Grand Prix, there was a huge sense of disappointment from the team and the expressions of the representatives of the stable. So the in-depth analysis began, followed by big statements two weeks later in Saudi Arabia.
“Bahrain was a real reality check for us and such poor competitiveness was a huge disappointment for the whole team. But you have to get over it and ask instead, what are we going to do about it? How do we move forward? How do we get back into the game?’
“And when I walk around the factory, I can really feel the energy, the amount of work, and we’re starting to see some progress that will put us back in contention for the title.” he said Elliott.
