Mercedes F1 team boss Toto Wolff says the W13 may have looked the same from the outside with the same bodywork, but that the car had changed its design concept during the 2022 season.
Mercedes entered 2022 after winning its last eight consecutive Constructors’ Championships, but a change to ground effects cars for 202 has left it plagued with underlying floor problems that went undetected until the start of the season. was done.
Externally, Mercedes F1 stuck to a ‘zero pod’ philosophy, while Williams and others abandoned this in favor of a design philosophy similar to Red Bull’s.
Despite this, Wolff has revealed that the Mercedes F1 team has changed the concept of its car during the 2022 season.
Toto Wolff has previously said that Mercedes is looking to reclaim the title lost to Red Bull in 2022 and that the 2023 W14 will have a different ‘DNA’ than its predecessor.
Toto Wolff has hinted that the W14 that will challenge the Red Bull RB19 in 2023 will keep the ‘zero pod’ idea.
“I went into the wind tunnel and said, ‘That looks just like this year’s car,'” Wolff explained to the media, including RacingNews365.com, in Abu Dhabi.
“But they told me, ‘It’s very different under there.'”
“It’s about airflow, weight distribution and aero maps.”
“Our car was radically changed halfway through the season. The concept changed, but we didn’t see anything in the bodywork.”
“I think the narrow sidepod concept is kind of distracting.”
“The last time I saw it in the wind tunnel it was full of surprises, but they said it wasn’t the same.”
