Video: Mercedes starts the W13 for the first time for F1 2022

December 23, 2021

Less than two weeks after Mercedes’ painful championship finish at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix , where Max Verstappen snatched the drivers’ title from Lewis Hamilton with an overtake after a restart a lap from the end at Yas Marina, the Germans had already prepare 2022.

The days that followed were very frustrating for the Brackley team, with even boss Toto Wolff saying the pain might never go away, but it seems that Mercedes are ready to start putting what happened behind them. With the confirmation of Hamilton’s continuity, they are already 100% focused on what will be the 2022 championship, in which F1 will undergo a major regulatory change.

With that in mind, and after celebrating its eighth consecutive constructors’ championship with the factory staff last week, Mercedes made public today on its social networks the images of the first ignition of the engine that will carry its single-seater, called W13.

Video: this was the first ignition of the Mercedes W13

As is often the case in these cases, the 48-second video does not show details of the new car with which Hamilton and his new teammate George Russell will race in 2022, but Wolff’s absence from the scene could be highlighted, although the team boss He was present through a video call where he is seen smiling, perhaps ready to leave the events of Abu Dhabi behind.

With the entry into play of the new regulations, the teams will prefer to wait as long as possible before having their final design. Knowing that rivals will want to learn as much as they can from other competitors, there will be little incentive to release details too soon in case others can copy the best ideas.

It is still unknown when the day of the official presentation of the W13 will be, although it is understood that it will be during the first fortnight of February before the start of the pre-season tests at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya , from the 23rd to the 25th of that month.