Mercedes face season "write off" in changing car philosophy
Mercedes face season "write off" in changing car philosophy
Mercedes has claimed that switching the rake philosophy now of if its W12 would lead to the team being forced to "write off" the current campaign.
The new aerodynamic regulations introduced to cut downforce around the rear of a car have severely hampered the low-rake cars in Mercedes and Aston Martin.
In contrast, the high-rake design of a team like Red Bull has been less affected and able to reclaim the lost downforce more quickly, ensuring it is more of a threat to Mercedes this season.
Even seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton suggested the new regulations had been deliberately designed to hurt Mercedes this year in a bid to finally end its domination of the sport.
At this stage, Mercedes knows it has to work around its current philosophy rather than attempting to deliver a high-rake design to be on par with Red Bull.
Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said: "Did this set of regulations drag back low-rake cars more than high-rake cars? It may well be the case.
"I know they won the last race [of last season] but generally we were ahead at the end of the year and that’s not the case now.
"Either we took a bigger hit in the rules or they’ve had a better rate of development since they applied the regulation changes.
"But it is what it as and we’ve got a car that could win a championship if we make some clever decisions and do some good work with it and operate well over the year, but whether or not it’s high or low rake we can’t do anything about that now.
"What we certainly can’t do is say we’re going to lift the rear of our car 30mm and work with that because that would write off the season as there is so much work to do that."
Suggested to Shovlin it was the closest a rival had been since the start of the turbo-hybrid era in 2014, he replied: "It’s definitely close."
"We’ve had some tough years in the past few seasons. This is not alien to us and this is what we’ve got to work with.
"We’re two teams that seem pretty much neck and neck at the moment so it’s going to be a tough year and there’s no doubt Red Bull operate really well.
"They’re a sharp, well-focused team that don’t make many mistakes. Max [Verstappen] is clearly a very mature and smart racer now, he’s difficult, and they develop well. They’ve shown over every season that they have the capacity to put a lot of performance on the car.
"So regardless of the start point, this is not going to be an easy championship. It’s going to be tight and it’s one we’re not going to give up on. They’re going to tell you the same."
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
F1 colleagues UNFOLLOW each other as internal drama cranks up
- 48 minutes ago
Hamilton 'emotional burden' heading into 2024 season revealed
- 1 hour ago
Marko DIRECTLY addresses Verstappen quit rumours
- 2 hours ago
Vettel CONFIRMS F1 comeback and reveals what's holding it up
- 3 hours ago
- 1
Hamilton flooded with applications as F1 celebrity pal founds new team
- 3 hours ago
F1 News Today: Hamilton puts himself on the market with F1 set for TAKEOVER worth 'billions'
- 3 hours ago
F1 Race Calendar
-
GP BAHRAIN
29 Feb - 2 Mar
Max Verstappen
-
GP SAUDI ARABIA
7 - 9 Mar
Max Verstappen
-
GP AUSTRALIA
22 - 24 Mar
Carlos Sainz
- GP JAPAN 5 - 7 Apr
- GP CHINA 19 - 21 Apr
- GP USA 3 - 6 May
- GP ITALY 17 - 19 May
- GP MONACO 24 - 26 May
Related news
F1 pundit SLAMS Mercedes as Hamilton woes continue
Hamilton labelled 'best that's ever walked the earth' after INCREDIBLE display
F1 team SAVED Russell from major injuries after horror crash
Mercedes F1 star will 'MISS' Japanese Grand Prix
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860