During this season, almost all the critical voices have been addressed to the car of the star team, a car that was born with shortcomings and with some problems that seem to have a complicated solution, if they do.
However, one of the main problems for Mercedes at the start of the season, as is the case with the vast majority of its customer teams, has been the low speed on the straights. This is most likely due to the car’s high aerodynamic drag at the front end, but the problem could also lie with its revamped power unit.
Due to the fact that the current Formula 1 engines have been frozen until 2026, the season in which the arrival of the new generation of engines is expected, all the motorists have made changes to their engines and, without a doubt, Mercedes seems to have been the one to more harmed has come out.
Now, the problem for the German team is simple. The FIA will only allow modifications to the power units to solve reliability problems and as long as it is fully demonstrated that they will not affect performance. So how can they solve this deficit?
Although it seems like an unanswered question, from Mercedes they assured that they were not going to give up and explained, through their engineer Andrew Shovlin , the way in which they could find an increase in performance within the legal margins.
“Of course we’re trying to find something,” Shovlin said. “However, our power units are already homologated and the only thing we are allowed to do at the moment is to work on improving reliability.”
“But there is another area that we can work on that is not prohibited. I am referring to the engine control modes, which we can toggle to our liking.”
“We understand that our new car is not perfect, but the good news is that if your car is not as fast as you would like, there are many areas where it can improve.”
“So our staff are now looking closely at the possibilities of adjustments that can give us extra performance [on the engine]. But yes, in terms of chassis, we don’t want to stop either,” concluded the Mercedes man .
After four grands prix in 2022, George Russell sits in fourth place in the drivers’ championship, with Lewis Hamilton in seventh, both a long way from leader Charles Leclerc.
Meanwhile, in constructors, the star team has managed to save the furniture after several setbacks by Red Bull and Ferrari and remains in third position, relatively close to them. However, the sensations are much worse than expected and changes are urgently needed to finally change the course of the Brackley structure.
