Mercedes will "pay the price" this year for 2020 success
Mercedes will "pay the price" this year for 2020 success
Mercedes technical director James Allison has explained the new success-based limits on wind tunnel usage will see the Silver Arrows "pay the price" this year for its championship success last season.
In a bid to help improve the racing and close the gaps between teams, Formula 1 has introduced a sliding scale that dictates how much time a team can spend in the wind tunnel and using CFD [computational fluid dynamics].
Setting a baseline of 40 wind tunnel runs a week for 2021, Mercedes is permitted just 90 per cent of this total - 36.
In contrast, Williams, who finished last in the constructors' standings, can complete 112.5 per cent of the number and run 45 simulations.
In a Mercedes YouTube video, Allison explained: "Another maybe slightly smaller aspect of the new regulations is that we have now, for the first time, an allowance of the use of our wind tunnels that varies from competitor to competitor.
"We have, for many years now, been limited in the amount that we were allowed to use the wind tunnel and the CFD.
"The limit in the past has always been the same for all competitors, whereas for 2021 that has changed and now we get a different allowance depending on how successful we were in the previous season.
"So, the way this regulation works is that basically the last-placed team in 2020 is allowed to use their wind tunnel about 20 per cent more than the first-placed team, and everyone in between is on a sliding scale between that 20 per cent and what the first-placed team gets.
"We were lucky enough to be good last year and, unfortunately, we pay the price for that a little bit in 2021 and beyond because we get to use less of that fundamental asset, the wind tunnel and the CFD computers compared to our competitors."
From next year, the championship-winning team will face a steeper climb as they will be permitted just 70 per cent of the baseline figure, 28 simulations per week.
The seventh-place team will receive the full allocation of 40 runs - numbers increasing by five per cent between teams - while the 10th-place team, or a new entry, is granted 115 per cent of the number.
This means the lowest finishing team this year could complete up to 46 CFD or wind tunnel sessions per week in 2022 - 18 more than the champions.
Allison added: "For us, the challenge has been, how do we react to this new regulation in the most positive way? How can we make sure that we don't get tripped up by it?
"The challenge has been, well if we are not allowed to use as much of our wind tunnel and our CFD as we were previously how could we adapt our world so that we get more and more out of every single opportunity in that wind tunnel.
"We only got one run in the wind tunnel, let's make that run as valuable to us as possible. If we are only allowed to do a small amount of CFD calculation, let's make it so that the methodology and approach to those CFD calculations are as valuable as possible.
"So, we've tried to adapt our approach to this, so we mitigate and maybe even completely offset the effect of this reduction in the amount that we are allowed to use these fundamental tools."
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
FIA CANCEL important drivers' meeting after huge drama in China
- 53 minutes ago
F1 News Today: Red Bull and Verstappen dealt title blow as Red Bull dominated in sprint qualifying
- 1 hour ago
FIA stewards ROB Hamilton pole after bizarre U-turn
- 2 hours ago
F1 Sprint Qualifying Results: Chinese Grand Prix 2024 times as Verstappen stunned in rainy CHAOS
- 3 hours ago
Another bizarre fire STOPS action at Chinese Grand Prix
- 3 hours ago
EXCLUSIVE: Hamilton and Ferrari chief had meals together years before 2025 signing
- Today 09:42
Related news
Wolff 'p*****' by Verstappen error as star makes Mercedes debut
Hamilton to open Wolff talks at Mercedes amid Ferrari F1 move uncertainty
Mercedes announce MAJOR £5.9 million loss in profits
Verstappen admits new Mercedes relationship with F1 future update
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