The Mercedes team encountered many complications at the Bahrain Grand Prix, the opening round of the 2022 Formula 1 season, and its W13 was no match for Ferrari and Red Bull on the Sakhir track.
However, as well as struggling to match the favorites in the high-downforce corners, his car also fell far short in the top speed traps.
The German customer teams had a lot of problems, all staying at the back of the grid. This caused speculation that both Ferrari and Honda may have overtaken the German manufacturer in terms of power.
Asked by Motorsport.com for his thoughts on the engine, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff felt it was too early to make a firm judgement, due to the version of the wing that was fitted to the cars.
“We have to look at aerodynamic drag levels before judging whether we are lacking in power,” said the Austrian. “I don’t think there are big differences between the power units, but it is clear that Ferrari has made a big step forward.”
“Last year they weren’t quite competitive and if you go back to just looking at what happened in Bahrain, it seems like they’ve outperformed everyone else.”
Mercedes is clear that the rear wing with which it ran in Sakhir will have to be modified for this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which takes place at the Jeddah track, the urban circuit with an average speed of more than 250km /h.
Racing with drag settings more akin to Ferrari and Red Bull should, at the very least, offer a better look at engine output.
Reflecting on the maximum downforce solution that was used at Sakhir, Wolff explained that Mercedes would be looking for a different solution for the following race.
“It’s easier to take downforce off a car, because you just take a chainsaw and cut the rear wing into pieces,” he said. “So that’s what we’ll do for Jeddah.”
Mercedes technical solutions for the Formula 1 Bahrain GP 2022
By Matt Somerfield and Giorgio Piola
When considering the issue of aerodynamic drag, it might be easy to point the finger at the W13’s sidepod concept, especially when compared to the approach of Ferrari and Red Bull.
The solutions of its rivals seem to push the wake generated by the front tire outwards in a different way, while the presence of the pontoon in the central part of the car will have an impact on the flow received by the rear wheel.
However, Williams is quite a bit better in the speed trap compared to Mercedes, and it also has a smaller sidepod, although not as narrow, so the issue doesn’t seem to be that simple.
Sidepods aside, Mercedes focused on their flat bottom in Bahrain to try and resolve their porpoising issues. As on the last day of pre-season testing, they trimmed the inner wishbones of the Venturi tunnel.
The team also experimented with different floor specifications, testing a new variant on Hamilton’s car during free practice on Friday.
However, it was dropped again as the package focused on configuring the car around the more familiar option.
