If at the end of 2021 we had been told that after the first three races of the 2022 season a Mercedes driver would have found himself second in the drivers' standings, we probably wouldn't have been too surprised; on the other hand, the star's team's constant hegemony over the last eight years was anything but a bad reason to give Brakley's team as an immediate favorite. And yet, as is well known, appearances can be deceiving, because behind that fictitious second place in the drivers' standings, the reality of the silver-colored car in this championship start is gray rather than silver.
The novelty dilemma
The team had initially announced that important news would arrive with the start of the European races, interspersed with the trip to Florida, giving hope to those who believed that the 'unlocking the potential' of the W13 would be a matter of a few races. The situation is in fact more complicated, and at Imola, as revealed by George Russell, the changes will be slight, as first of all the team will undertake to solve the problem that most afflicts its single-seater: porpoising (jumping of the passenger compartment due aerodynamic stall, whose genesis occurs when the bottom of the single-seater approaches the asphalt at speeds exceeding 250 km/h). as team principal Toto Wolff reasonably reiterates, in fact, at the moment it would not make sense to bring more radical updates, which would confuse the situation even more.
Sensors yes or sensors no?
Regarding the analysis of the behavior of single-seaters number 44 and 63 on the track, Mercedes strategist James Vowles revealed that in the first two rounds of the season, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the technicians removed some sensors during the race. The aim was to lighten the single-seaters by a few kilos overweight compared to the minimum of 798 kg; and if the positive side was having a 'leaner' car, the negative side was that of not having been able to collect certain types of data, which especially in this start of the season, including the tests, would be so desired by the engineers at the to better understand the correlation between simulation and reality. The world champion constructors team has thus decided to reassemble the kilo and a half of extra sensors on its cars, a move which, according to Vowles, has allowed us to gather good information. The question therefore remains when Mercedes will be able to outline a more general and crystalline picture of the situation, and when it will make the first noteworthy adjustments in order not to say goodbye too soon to the potential fight at the top; to do this, however, the margin of error will be minimal, as those who are at the top have shown that they are certainly no less hungry than those who are below.
SOURCE: Motorsport.com Italy
