The Last Dance
The Miami weekend, which will open today with the two free practice sessions – and therefore the return to a traditional weekend format, after the indigestion of double qualifying and double race experienced in Baku – will also represent in its own way historic last time. Unless the plans are completely unpredictable at the moment, the American race will be the last disputed by Mercedes with the current version of the W14, the one characterized by the now infamous ‘zero-sidepod’ concept that has caused much discussion in the last year and a half. In fact, the design of this year’s car is the direct heir to that of 2022.
Back to the past
The good performances shown by the Anglo-German team at the end of last championship, crowned by the double win in the San Paolo GP, had in fact deluded the Mercedes engineers that they had finally taken the right path. However, the fluctuating start of this new vintage froze any enthusiasm, definitively convincing Toto Wolff to reject this line of development and to start the recovery of the old concept seen on the very first version of W13, the one that took to the track at the beginning of 2022 in the Barcelona tests. Obviously integrating the updates that worked on the W14 on that ‘concept’.
As reported by the Sports Courier, in an analysis signed by Fulvio Solms, Mercedes had in fact never completely abandoned that first project, carrying it forward in a parallel way to the development of the ‘without bellies’ version. The new sideswhich will be the most striking feature of the new W14B, they will make their debut in the Imola race. Rumors speculate that Mercedes may also be ‘inspired’ by some solutions which, especially at the beginning of last season, had made Ferrari’s fortune.
Ferrari-style bellies?
“Mercedes tested three versions of bellies in the wind tunnel – reads the Corriere dello Sport – one of these proposes the basic concept of the flared sides of the Ferrari“. While waiting to understand what the actual solution adopted by the Brackley engineers will be, Toto Wolff has already got his hands on it. In fact, the Austrian team principal stated that “the updates certainly won’t allow us to lap at the pace of the Red Bulls“. However, the intention is to take a decisive step forward, which will serve as a good working basis for 2024.
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