Mercedes is preparing a revolution: “If the car looks like Red Bull, I will not be ashamed”

One of the secrets to the success of many lies in something that should also be considered an art: copying. “If something works, copy it”, is often said in many business areas. And in F1, that’s something that always happens. When a car features a different innovation or strategy, teams discuss how to incorporate that idea into their car. It happens at the beginning of all ages. When you change the regulations, one group finds something and over time, others try to adapt that idea to their car. And Mercedes, the Constructors’ champion team from 2014 to 2021, won’t drop the rings if they do. That’s how he made sure of it Toto Wolff in statements to Saudi Arabian GP. He Mercedes Main Team it is clear.

Mercedes realized at the first race in Bahrain that it had made a mistake with its 2023 car and is preparing a revolution, a single-seater that Toto Wolff He assured that it is being examined in all aspects to improve every area. And maybe, it will go from being a ‘zero sidepods’ concept to implementing the sidepods that the entire grid put on their cars after Red Bull put them on last year.

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In recent years, there have been other teams that have tried to implement Mercedes’ ideas because it is the champion team and the great dominator. Now Red Bull dominates with an iron fist and the car to be inspired. Even Mercedes, a big public enemy of Red Bull. Toto Wolff indicated: “There are no dogmas about how the car should be. It should just be the fastest racing car possible. If that car looks like a Red Bull… I don’t care. I’m not ashamed of being fast.”commented the Austrian, making it clear that this time the German company is not closed to anything.

When will the new Mercedes arrive?

There is still no official date for the premiere of the new Mercedes, but rumors indicate that it could arrive at Imola (from May 19 to 21), in the sixth race of the year. Toto Wolff is very optimistic about the data he is seeing in the wind tunnel and the simulations his team is carrying out on what they hope will be a single-seater that will allow them to fight for victories on this course.

Wolff is very optimistic about the data he sees at the factory

“We are now ahead and changing things. We are making really big steps right now with our R&D department and with our understanding in the wind tunnel, which is really big steps because we just needed to have confirmation in Bahrain that we were wrong,” he said. In Bahrain, the first appointment of course ,

Mercedes realized that its continued commitment to the ‘zero sidepods’ concept had not worked and, despite solving its problems with rebound and top speed in a straight line, its car continued to have many deficiencies such as high wear, tire slippage and shortages. of payment. They had to completely replace their car and do it quickly. And according to Wolff, things seem to be on the right track.

“The kind of gains that are being made in our R&D and in aerodynamics are far greater than we’ve had in a long time,” he added, sending his rivals on big notice.

the data is good

Optimism on the new Mercedes

“I think if we continue the big steps we’ve taken in the last 10 days, I think we’ll reach a stage where we can really respond,” he argued. They have been inferior in the first two races, defeated by Red Bull and Aston Martin , but Wolff believes in the team’s ability to continue attacking, especially after the improvement they achieved with their current car after analyzing and understanding the data from the first round, in this second round their performance is equal. better despite still not enough.

“We’ve unlocked some potential because now we’re just looking at things from different angles. We have a different perspective, because of what we learned during the tests and races in Bahrain”, he commented.

Wolff was emphatic, making it clear that all visible aerodynamic parts of the car are under review and could be subject to changes. Mercedes is not preparing a small change, it is preparing a revolution, and all this, it is necessary to be careful to comply with the budget ceiling and the time limit set by the FIA ​​​​for the use of the wind tunnel and CFD simulation. Quite an act. In that sense, the main shortcut is to look at what already works on the current grid. In other words, have Red Bull as a reference.

“We just have to put the car through a different window, we’re changing the body of the car and how the ground works. The team at Brackley is in full swing. We’re seeing a lot of great things. We’re seeing the fruits within reach with encouraging things.”

Of course, it should be noted that the simulator data was also encouraging before Mercedes put last year’s car on the track, and finally, on the asphalt they suffered a lot. We will have to wait for Mercedes to put its revolution on track to check if this time they have been successful.