At Montmelò in Barcelona, during the first winter test session, Mercedes had presented itself with a conventional version of the W13 – only at the time no one could have imagined what was later seen in the Sakhir tests – and now it comes back with a W13 very different. It is so both from the point of view of forms and from that of performance. But also from the point of view of expectations.
A game to continue the row of Mercedes titles that has lasted since 2014, the W13 has undergone enormous difficulties since the first races of the 2022 Formula 1 season. Porpoising, a phenomenon that occurred on all 2022 ground-effect single-seaters , is the largest Achilles heel, which chases and brakes the rounded Silver Arrows even in certain types of curves.
To overcome these problems, the team led by Toto Wolff has been working for several weeks in the correlation of data between the simulator and the track to try to find solutions to the problems. According to what was stated by the Austrian team principal, the flashes shown by the W13 during free practice in Miami give us hope for the future.
“In terms of performance, we know we have the third best car of the lot and in Miami we got the maximum possible points. During Friday practice in Miami, the W13 showed flashes of its true potential. We continued to experiment with the set-up. , we have assembled some new components and these have given us answers and indications on the directions to take “.
“At Brackley we worked hard to analyze the data from the Miami GP and turn it into improvements for the Spanish GP in Barcelona. Having already ridden on that track in winter testing, even though the car has evolved a lot since then, it will be a good place to correlate the information we have on the current car and we hope to be able to take another step forward. “
The Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona is a perfect place to learn about the defects and virtues of the single-seaters, but also to try to understand if the evolutions made are the right way to advance the single-seaters.
“The track itself is good, it tests every aspect of the car. It has never been ideal for overtaking, so it will be interesting to see how this generation of cars affect the show in Spain.”
“If we talk in basketball terms, we are going to Barcelona at the end of the first quarter of the game. We know that, once the knowledge acquired on the track regarding our performances has been translated, there is still a lot to play”, concluded a confident Wolff.
In recent days, Mercedes has made it known that Barcelona could be a real watershed for their season. Should the W13s prove to be improved, then the “zero belly” project started in the Sakhir tests would have a continuation. Conversely, the idea could be definitively abandoned also in view of the design of the W14, next year’s car.
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