Post by wilmywood8455 on May 11, 2022 8:39:33 GMT -8
Mercedes had something of a false dawn at the Miami Grand Prix, with the Formula 1 team topping the times in Friday practice thanks to some upgrades.
But as the weekend carried on, Mercedes could not recapture that form and it again found itself fighting at the front of the midfield pack rather than with Ferrari and Red Bull.
What Mercedes now needs to understand is whether it was flattered by Friday or underperformed over the rest of the weekend.
One factor that appears to have played to Mercedes on Friday was that its tyre warm up struggles were masked by track temperatures and a lack of rubber on the new surface. This contributed towards the team being able to find a sweet spot during Friday’s running, something it failed to achieve on Saturday, as grip ramped up and the track evolved.
Although Mercedes did make some setup changes between Friday and Saturday, in an attempt to extract more performance, the rollercoaster form has at least confirmed to the team that the problems with its W13 are not entirely aerodynamic in nature.
In fact, ill-effects posed by porpoising are just one of the puzzle pieces that the German car manufacturer needs to resolve in order to get the best from the W13.
Mercedes introduced a handful of new components for the Miami GP to try and both boost performance and cater for the demands of the new track. While it is fighting to resolve issues with the car, the team's design ingenuity certainly doesn’t seem to have been suppressed – as its new front wing design is by far and away the most unique interpretation of the new regulations we’ve seen so far.
What Mercedes now needs to understand is whether it was flattered by Friday or underperformed over the rest of the weekend.
One factor that appears to have played to Mercedes on Friday was that its tyre warm up struggles were masked by track temperatures and a lack of rubber on the new surface. This contributed towards the team being able to find a sweet spot during Friday’s running, something it failed to achieve on Saturday, as grip ramped up and the track evolved.
Although Mercedes did make some setup changes between Friday and Saturday, in an attempt to extract more performance, the rollercoaster form has at least confirmed to the team that the problems with its W13 are not entirely aerodynamic in nature.
In fact, ill-effects posed by porpoising are just one of the puzzle pieces that the German car manufacturer needs to resolve in order to get the best from the W13.
Mercedes introduced a handful of new components for the Miami GP to try and both boost performance and cater for the demands of the new track. While it is fighting to resolve issues with the car, the team's design ingenuity certainly doesn’t seem to have been suppressed – as its new front wing design is by far and away the most unique interpretation of the new regulations we’ve seen so far.