Symonds said technology derived from the aerospace industry has helped Mercedes introduce an ultra-efficient cooling system which, in turn, has enabled it to create the unique sidepod design revealed on the first day of testing in Bahrain.
Symonds, who was the main architect of the 2022 regulations, admitted that he had not anticipated such an extreme interpretation of the rules.
“It’s a very innovative philosophy,” he said in an interview on F1 TV .
“I like to see novel performances. I have to say it’s not one I was expecting to see. And I’m very impressed with how they get the air through to cool the car, but they obviously do.”
“I think their rivals will have to go back to the regulations with their red pen and see what they have done.”
Symonds admitted that when his engineering team drafted the regulations and created a full-size model of the 2022 car, they foresaw the need for larger radiator inlets.
“I guess it was a little more radical than we thought,” he said.
“In developing the aerodynamics of this set of rules, obviously we looked at a lot of things, not just downforce production, but we had to look at brake cooling, we had to look at tire heating. And especially, we had to look at check engine cooling.
“And we were using a bigger inlet than that (than the W13) to get the cooling. I think Mercedes has some tricks that help them in that regard.
“So, for example, the intercooler , it’s a very, very neat device, it’s a water/air radiator, which of course Mercedes has had for a long time, but I think this is a bit different.”
“And so they can really shrink the car a little bit more than anyone else can.”
(Enjoy these photos of the Mercedes before reading on)
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Photo by: LAT Images
Photo by: LAT Images
Photo by: LAT Images
Photo by: LAT Images
Photo by: LAT Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Expanding on what he thinks of Mercedes’ work, Symonds added: “The intercooler I was talking about I think comes from Reaction Engines in Oxfordshire, the people who are making this sort of air-breathing rocket engine, and that’s where this extremely efficient heat exchanger technology.
“And I think that’s part of the reason they’ve been able to produce the car the way they have.”
Symonds stressed that all the teams have refined their design to make the pontoons as small as possible.
“I think one of the trends that we’re seeing, and it’s not special to these new rules, is that it’s very, very difficult to start packing everything on the pontoons.”
“People think that what’s on the pontoons is probably just the radiators, the heat exchangers.”
“But of course there’s a lot more, there’s a lot of electronics in there. I think some teams are moving those electronics into the nose area.”
Sidepods and cooling concept aside, Symonds suggested that no more areas of the W13 would have caught his eye.
“I think the rest looks reasonably conventional, if there is such a thing as conventional. The front wing treatment is what we expected to see.”
“The rear wing yeah, a little bit of a change in camber, which a lot of people have adopted for that kind of very, very clear towards the lower rear wing, the kind of beam wing at the rear, that a lot of people are trying to do now”.
