Until they can cure the porpoising phenomenon that bounces off their car, Mercedes doesn’t want to introduce any major updates as they can’t be sure they’ll help the W13 go in the right direction.
So until now they have focused on minor tweaks, aimed at making small changes to airflow, and some experimentation during a grand prix between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to try and find the right levels of downforce/drag. advance .
With the team still using its high-downforce rear wing that it introduced earlier in the year, the options for its drivers are related to how much of the wing is cut, plus the option of a Gurney flap .
At Imola, the two Mercedes were given different wing configurations to try to help the team determine the best solution .
Hamilton used the rear wing featuring a cutout on the trailing edge of the upper wing, along with a Gurney flap during FP1, while Russell started with the higher downforce version.
In the end, it was decided that the higher downforce solution was the best, so Hamilton’s car was changed from the start of qualifying, when parc fermé conditions were established.
Mercedes track engineering director Andrew Shovlin said the differences between the wings were, however, very small.
“It was a slight difference, not much, but it does change the way the cars behave a bit,” he said.
“We were just running Lewis at a slightly lower level than George. But we only talked about a couple of kilometers per hour on the straights.
As well as trying to find the ideal wing configuration, Mercedes also introduced some aerodynamic updates at the Emilia Romagna GP intended to help improve airflow and increase cooling .
Comparison of Mercedes W13 sidepod canards and sidepod impact beam
Among the changes was a revised sidepod impact cross member fairing, where the shape was altered not only to work in conjunction with the new mirror housing, but as a means of getting more performance out of the introduction of a new canard on the chassis ahead of the pontoon entrance.
The introduction of this third canard (red arrow in the image above) caused the other two fins already mounted on the chassis to move up as well.
The modifications should help further tidy up the airflow ahead of the skinny sidepod intake, improving cooling and helping to divert the rest of the airflow around the side of the sidepod.
Alterations to the shape of the pontoon impact beam fairing may not seem obvious at first glance, but the thickness of the leading edge of the wing-shaped element has been significantly reduced.
That has allowed the rearview mirror lever to move forward (blue arrow), with a metal insert to keep it from flexing too much.
The mirror lever has also been modified to take advantage of the new position (black arrow) .
Mercedes W13 Floor Comparison
Mercedes made two other changes that will have a combined effect. They were located in the loop at the rear edge of the ground and in the lower deflector of the rear brake line.
These two surfaces play a role in managing the wake and jet created by the tire sidewall and by altering its geometry will impact the aerodynamic characteristics of the tire as it deforms.
As you can see, the upward curl at the trailing edge of the ground (yellow dotted line) ends much more abruptly in the new spec, altering how surface pressure builds and the path airflow takes.
