Mercedes reveal "under the skin" work for W13 success

Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott has explained how the new W13's "interesting bits" are "under the skin" of the car.

F1 has introduced significant changes to the technical regulations, with the most noticeable and talked about changes coming to the aerodynamic structures of the cars.

The seven cars that came before Mercedes' launch were all radically different to machinery seen before, with teams opting for different design philosophies despite the supposed tightness of the regulations.

Although the aerodynamic changes are the talking point of the new era, Elliott has explained the work underneath the bodywork that has allowed the new-look cars to take shape.

"I think, to be honest with most Formula 1 cars, the interesting bits are under the skin," said Elliott during the launch event at Silverstone.

"We have had a massive regulation change for this year, in aerodynamics particularly, and that has changed the complete shape of the car.

"In order to deliver this shape, it is a huge amount of work, pretty much everything has to change, everything from the front of the car to the back, pretty much all of the steering wheel is carryover.

"To be able to get the shapes that we want in aerodynamics, we have had to package everything as tightly as we can, we have had to work really closely with Hywel [Thomas'] guys [Mercedes High Performance Powertrains] to get the sort of tightness we have got in the bodywork.

"The car will continue to evolve but I think the real work is under the skin."

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