How Mercedes 'balanced' dual car development
How Mercedes 'balanced' dual car development
Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott has described the difficulty of striking a balance between old and new when creating the W13.
The Silver Arrows will seek to extend its record run of constructors' championship victories in F1's new era as radically altered regulations threaten to shake up the pecking order.
Development for the new cars began before the Covid pandemic hit back in 2020, with the implementation of the new cars delayed due to the impacts of the global response and cars carried over into 2021.
"We first started working on the regulations for the '22 car back in the start of '20 and we had done all the initial work in CFD, we had done some initial work in the wind tunnel as well, the big development items like the gearbox had started," explained Elliott.
"As covid kicked in, it became clear we were going to delay the regulations for a year and we also had the challenge that we wanted to drop the downforce for the '21 car, we felt that was a necessary direction, the cars were getting too quick, so we had to turn all of our focus back to the '21 car and it wasn't until the beginning of '21 that we could actually get back onto working on the '22 car.
"All through that, it was about trying to balance the development of the current car versus the future car, with the future car being, of course, the car we are about to run.
"One of the biggest difficulties of developing this car is about how much resource we can put into it.
"Last year, we were fighting for a championship and we needed to make sure we did a good job with that and we did a good job with this year's car.
"That was a big challenge, particularly now the regulations are such that we have a cost cap and we also have very limited runs in the wind tunnel, so we had to choose really carefully what resource we spent on the '21 car versus what resource we spent on the '22 car."
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
Newey submits Red Bull 'resignation' ahead of exit
- 36 minutes ago
- 1
F1 News Today: Newey submits Red Bull 'resignation' as Ferrari move given huge boost
- 46 minutes ago
F1 Miami Grand Prix weather forecast - latest today
- 1 hour ago
Teenage sensation makes BLEAK admission about F1 dreams
- 2 hours ago
'Official' Red Bull statement on Newey exit IMMINENT
- 3 hours ago
Hamilton beats Verstappen and host of legends to key title
- Today 10:59
Related news
Hamilton and Wolff centre stage as F1 shuts down New York for new emoji launch
F1 wonderkid in Imola TEST amid driver replacement reports
Mercedes reveal shock RED livery to celebrate historic milestone
Verstappen 'to meet Mercedes over SHOCK 2025 move as Red Bull exit clause revealed'
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