Mercedes F1 “Overly optimistic about W13 performance”[F1-Gate.com]

Mercedes F1 team trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin admits the German team was too optimistic about its hopes for the W13 ahead of the new F1 regulations for 2022.

The design approach Mercedes took during pre-season testing in Bahrain was one of the most radical ideas on the grid. Of course, it was the sidepod of the W13, and the “zero pod” concept with almost no sidepod surprised rival teams.

However, the W13 did not live up to the expectations of the Mercedes F1 team, which has won eight consecutive constructors’ championships, and struggled with one of the worst cases of porpassing/bouncing on the grid.

“It’s been a very interesting journey,” said Andrew Shovlin in a recent interview.

“I think we were overly optimistic about where we thought we could run the car.”

“The car we put in had a lot of downforce near the ground, so there were a lot of problems with actually getting the car on track.

“We are not where we want to be, but the direction of travel seems fine, so we are working hard to improve it.”

Improving the performance of the Mercedes W13 will be a key topic for the 2022 season, as it gradually moves closer to the front-runners of Red Bull and Ferrari.

The car has proven more suitable for high downforce tracks such as Budapest and Zandvoort, as opposed to low downforce/high speed circuits such as Spa-Francorchamps and Monza.

“The spa was very interesting,” added Shovlin.

“It was very difficult at the time, but it’s often said that the worst weekends are when you learn the most.”

“What we learned from that shows what parts of the car we need to develop in the future.”

“At Zandvoort we expected to be more competitive, so it was encouraging that it worked out. It’s rooted in how it works.”

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Category: F1 / mercedes

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