Mercedes group principal Toto Wolff has introduced that the W14, which was proven to the world at Wednesday’s launch, will stay “largely” for pre-season testing and the beginning of the 2023 season.
A 12 months in the past, Mercedes made main adjustments to its automobile between the inaugural pre-season session in Barcelona and the following pre-season take a look at in Bahrain, changing conventional sidepods with a daring and distinctive ‘zero sidepod’ strategy.
GALLERY: Take a better have a look at the Mercedes W14 2023 F1 automobile and its seems to be
Nonetheless, after a sequence of issues firstly of the season final 12 months, Wolff made it clear that Mercedes would go “in the wrong way”, this time with minimal adjustments to know the W14’s specs and create a platform for the 12 months. forward.
After the 2023 launches, Wolff mentioned: “Final 12 months we discovered a tough lesson. We knew we have been going to deliver an improve bundle price a second and a half for take a look at quantity two.
“In a approach, you are wanting on the first take a look at and also you suppose it is probably not related, as a result of it is not going to be the device.” Then we put it on the observe and it did not carry out as we anticipated in any respect.
Because the pre-season take a look at in Bahrain approaches subsequent week, he continued: “This 12 months we have taken the other route and what you see is basically the automobile we’ll take a look at and race with.
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“Understanding the platform and the way the automobile behaves is basically essential, relatively than conserving some components within the background that might add a tenth or two to pure aero efficiency.”
With some rival groups turning to the sidepod idea utilized by world champion Pink Bull, Wolff gave extra perception into Mercedes sticking to its distinctive design – however acknowledged that might change because the season unfolds.
Mercedes reveals the 2023 W14 F1 automobile in an all-black end
“The slender sidepod design will not be one thing we consider is basically the rationale we’re not performing,” mentioned Wolff, who was at Silverstone on Wednesday to see the W14 shake up.
“We do not have ‘holy cows’ in our idea, we do not need to observe anybody’s concepts. We have remained with the slender sidepod as is, however after that you could be see some enhancements that might include upgrades.
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“Sidepods will change… not very quickly, however we’re taking a look at options. However as we decide, it’s not a core, important efficiency piece.
Earlier than being knocked out by Max Verstappen and Pink Bull, Mercedes is heading into the brand new season to return to their championship paths, taking seven driver and eight constructor titles for the reason that begin of the turbo-hybrid period in 2014.
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