© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff explains why Mercedes decided to hide certain “super tricks” when they presented their 2021 car.
When Mercedes launched its 2021 challenger, the W12, the team decided to keep certain parts of the car hidden. For example, the floor of the car was very much hidden. Toto Wolff explains why.
“Of course we have hidden a new super trick there, otherwise we would have shown it. You will all be amazed when you see it,” the Austrian joked when talking to Dutch Motorsport.
Ultimately Wolff gave a serious answer.
“There are 10 days between our presentation and the first day of testing. If we show everything now, we give the competition extra options.
“They can then look at things, evaluate them and maybe even calculate them with CFD models. This would allow them to come onto the track at the first, second or maybe third race with a similar update.
“The 10-day period between our presentation and the test is just too big. We cannot afford to show everything so early.”
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With big regulation changes coming in 2022, this season the cars are expected to remain largely similar to those raced in 2020. That’s why Wolff explains the teams will have to focus on ‘marginal gains’.
“If you have completely new technical regulations, then everyone starts with a blank sheet of paper.
“Then there’s a good chance that one team will score points with innovations that another team has overlooked.
“But in a year like this, when it’s an evolution of the existing regulations, it’s much more about the marginal gains.
“Those marginal gains are becoming a lot more important, even though they have chopped part of the floor and the consequences in terms of downforce are quite drastic.
“But you’re not talking about tenths anymore, but about hundredths that make the difference. That is very interesting.
“The search for marginal gains can be just as interesting as the search for big gains,” concluded Mercedes’ team boss.
