TJ13 recently revealed the internal debate behind the scenes inside Brackley that fueled much of the 2022 season. 7-time World Drivers’ Champion Lewis Hamilton believed the concept behind the W13 should be scrapped while engineers proud of their design they fought to keep it longer.
Mercedes’ confused approach compromised Hamilton’s hopes
Recent revelations clearly prove that Hamilton has been outdone as Brackley’s tech gurus have been given one last push to prove their ‘zero sidepod’ car philosophy can work.
However, Sky’s F1 reporter Ted Kravitz revealed during the Bahrain test that Mercedes have a ‘plan B’ car design they can launch mid-season if the engineers at Brackley are proven wrong.
Of course, a plan B car would condemn Hamilton and Russell to another year of mere development with only two more years of these regulations to run.
Days after the Plan B was revealed, Mercedes are now scrambling to deny that they are in something of a mid-way limbo.
The eight-time world champion team endured a difficult second day at the Bahrain test, although Lewis Hamilton managed to top Day 3 with the second fastest time behind only Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
Although Hamilton described last season’s W13 as “one of the worst cars” he has ever driven, Wolff and Brackley’s other senior management have been persuaded to yield to the persuasion of their technicians that the car has potential.
Mercedes technical director Mike Elliot now confirms: “So a body is coming, it’s going to look different. It’s not going to look like somebody else’s, it’s going to look like an evolution of us. That’s on the way.”
It seems Mercedes’ tech gurus are desperate not to admit they got it wrong and will have to conform to designs from the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari.
When asked if there was a ‘B-Spec’ car in the works should the ill-fated W13 evolution fail, Mike Elliot was coy in his response.
“It’s not in our current plans,” is all I would reveal.
Mercedes is expected to have a different, less ‘drag’ rear wing at the Bahrain GP and Elliot also revealed: “We’re probably not running the front wing that we’re going to do when we come to run.”
Elliot claimed that Mercedes was also running extra ballast during testing, but will be closer to the 798kg limit come the race weekend.
All in all, Elliot is trying to keep the media at bay, but the pressure will continue to mount if Mercedes doesn’t.
Both Hamilton and Russell benefited greatly from Red Bull and Ferrari dropping points in the first half of last year. Ferrari then downgraded their power unit for better reliability, which again gave Mercedes a false lead in the second half of the season.
Podiums may be much harder to come by this year for Lewis and George and with a resurgent Aston Martin expect Mercedes to keep it honest. Top 5 results could be harder to fight for the once-conquering F1 team.
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