Mercedes continues to work on the current W13, looking for more performance in a single-seater that, until now, has only shown one great strength: reliability, since in terms of performance it has not been able to stand up to Red Bull and Ferrari in any moment.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell’s car arrived at Silverstone with a series of new features that affected practically all areas of the car. The front wing has been modified with a lower position of the curved flap that is on the outside of the side wing.
On the other hand, the strut that controls the front suspension has not been modified: the kinematic mechanism remains the same, but a new fairing has appeared that fulfills an aerodynamic function, displacing the flows that pass around the chassis according to the needs of the aerodynamicists. , depending on where they want to direct them.
In front of the almost non-existent radiator inlets (pontoons), the two fins fixed to the chassis have been modified: the Brackley engineers have sought with this change to improve the air flow for cooling the power unit, keeping the intakes air gaps as narrow as possible and reaffirming their faith in the concept for which they initially opted.
The bottom of the car is completely new, both in concept and design. Instead of the second tie rod that caused so much controversy at the Canadian GP, Mercedes has sought the same result with a metal core that runs vertically and is attached to the step that clearly divides the two ground levels.
In addition, they have eliminated the conspicuous ‘cutouts’ on the rear wheel, as the engineers hope and hope to better control porpoising and bottoming with trailing edge vents – you can see two, which are higher up and, below, have installed vortex generators and flow diverters. In between can also be identified a blower which is also very similar to the arched fin that appeared on the Red Bull RB18.
Mercedes is attempting to lower the height of the W13 , as they are confident that the latest version of the bottom will help control its problems and thus bring it back to the levels of downforce that engineers normally see in the wind tunnel.
Another change, although this is due more to the adaptation of the car to the track, is that the German team has also brought a new medium-load rear wing to the British GP, which completes the striking and long-awaited package of updates. for Silverstone.
