© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Autosport’s Jonathan Noble takes a look at why the Mercedes W13 didn’t look like it was “in a happy place” at the Bahrain Pre-Season Test.
If the post-testing comments from Mercedes are to be believed, the W13 doesn’t seem to be performing as well as the team would want.
On the final day of testing Lewis Hamilton said the car was not in contention to win races at the moment.
In an article on Autosport.com, Jonathan Noble tries to pinpoint where exactly do the biggest problems with the car lie.
“For however much its rivals believe the German car manufacturer is sandbagging, it was clear from observing the W13 on track that it is not in a happy place right now,” Noble wrote.
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“The excessive porpoising, lurid oversteer moments and struggles to find consistency through a corner have left it on the back foot.
“But while there has been no detailed explanation yet about what its issues are, some late modifications to the car – including the drastic move of cutting away some of its floor structure – have offered us some clues about the team’s difficulties.
“As our exclusive photograph shows, late on Saturday Mercedes took the saw to the innermost underfloor strake, removing some of the lower edge, in an effort to change flow distribution out and across the forward section of the floor and into the underfloor and diffuser section.”
Noble goes on to analyse what seems to be happening with the car, and you can read the full analysis here.
