Mercedes unsure of new F1 "limit"

Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott has conceded there is no way of knowing what the limit of performance will be ahead of F1's new era this season.

Radical changes to the sport's regulations have resulted in a major overhaul in car design, with aerodynamics being utilised underneath the top-face to create simplified and cleaner airflow.

With all teams entering the unknown with the cars at the start of this developmental cycle, the maximum potential of the new machinery is a mystery, although it is believed lap times will be similar to 2021's challengers.

"When you get a new set of regulations, it is a challenge, a challenge to start from scratch," explained Elliott.

"In most years, when you have got carry over regulations, you have got a pretty good idea of what good looks like.

"You know what sort of gains you need to make from the previous year's car and you can work on a direction of fine-tuning and finding all those incremental gains that can make you quicker."

Elliott concedes, however, that with a new set of regulations "you don't know what the limit is".

He added: "You don't know where you can get to and that is exciting for engineers.

"It is an exciting challenge to try and work out what the opportunity might be and to explore all of those opportunities and try and do that in a better way than the opposition does."

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