Mercedes was finally unable to fully utilize the aerodynamic package that they had brought to the United States Grand Prix, their latest evolution for the 2022 Formula 1 season. The changes made to the lower part were clearly visible, with the W13 at a fairly high lower than usual this year.
However, the long-awaited new front wing, which had a focus on what the German team’s concept car could be for next season, where they hope to make a big leap in quality, did not appear on the track at any time in FP1.
Initially Brackley said they only had one piece of that new front wing , but then why take it to the track if you’re not going to use it, it didn’t make much sense.
However, it was later learned that the solution that the Mercedes team had proposed for its W13 was declared illegal by the FIA , and that was the only reason why neither Lewis Hamilton nor George Russell were able to test this novelty.
Detalle de los desviadores de flujo who have sido delcaraciones ilegales for the FIA in el Mercedes W13
Why is the Mercedes front spoiler illegal? The answer is simple, the five carbon supports that had been installed on the last flap, act as authentic flow diverters and, therefore, are prohibited by the Formula 1 technical regulations in 2022, with the aim of avoiding solutions that facilitate the creation of vortices that can affect the wake created by these single-seaters.
Until 2018, the teams created a large number of upper flaps that had precisely the function of deflecting the airflow with the intention of taking it away from the front wheel. A fairly common solution of that time, but now has been declared illegal.
Silver bullet aerodynamicists tried to reintroduce the concept with the latest evolution of the W13 front wing, but the FIA stewards inspected the solution and concluded it was against Formula 1 regulations in 2022. .
Without a doubt, this is a big setback for the German team, which is trying to return to the path of victories after a long era of success since the beginning of the hybrid era in 2014 and that already last season began to collapse with the conquest of Max Verstappen.
