Mercedes Is Switching To Red Bull\’s Sidepod Concept, Lacked Tools To Sort W13\’s Problems

Mercedes are unexpectedly in the lowest phase of their graph this year. In the 2022 Formula One season, the Silver Arrows were unable to clinch even a single win. Their W13 car went through many problems, from proposing to bouncing effect. As a result, there were certain points where the Silver Arrow\’s lead driver and former world champion Lewis Hamilton discussed the issues of their car publicly. 

There are still six races left in this year\’s Formula One schedule. However, according to the stats, it is almost sure that Red Bull\’s Max Verstappen will hail this year. So now, all the other teams have shifted their focus from chasing this year\’s title contention to next year\’s car concept so that they can achieve something there. Similarly, Mercedes has also started working on finalizing its car concept for the 2023 season. And they are open to working on any design that comes under the technical directives and is fruitful for the team to clinch the top track position. 

Mercedes Taking On Red Bull\’s Car Design, claims Former F1 Driver

Last week, Mercedes engineer Andrew Shovlin also accepted the fact that Red Bull has the best car concept. On the other hand, they were stuck with the car updates at all the Grand Prix just to get through the week\’s race. Even Mercedes boss Toto Wolff pointed out that the budget cap created more trouble for the German racing team. However, he reckoned that with some changes in tweaks in their current W13 car, they can still call it to life and compete in the races. 

Elsewhere, former Formula One driver Marc Surer claimed that Mercedes would switch from their current narrow sidepods design to the Red Bull ones. According to him, Mercedes did not build the perfect chassis this year.  Therefore, next year, the German racing team will come with a Red Bull copy. At least in terms of concept, and then they will be back, asserted Surer. Although he also mentioned the fact that Mercedes could vary with their performance because Red Bull has also shown their dominance with their performance and skills. 

The Silver Arrows Were Insufficient Of Tools To Solve Problems In 2022

This year, spectators witnessed how Mercedes suffered with different issues at the race tracks to achieve mere points. Their concept of producing most of its downforce close to the ground does not appear to be the right technique to get the most out of their cars. But now, they have finally found the reason for their problems. According to Toto Wolff, they faced problems with their W13 because of lacking critical tools at their Formula 1 factory. \”We lacked the tools, the simulations and the understanding in uncovering the problems that we created, with the way the car was developed,” described Wolff.