© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Mercedes’ simulator driver Anthony Davidson says “the data from the wind tunnel says these new sidepods, even though they stick out a bit more, do make the car go faster”.
Mercedes’ big upgrade package for the W14 was finally introduced at the Monaco Grand Prix, and now after its first on-track run, the team’s simulator driver (and a Sky Sports F1 analyst) Anthony Davidson gives his thoughts on these new developments.
“I think [Mercedes] realised in Bahrain, it wasn’t going anywhere. It wasn’t going to challenge the speed of Red Bull,” Davidson told Sky Sports.
“They didn’t have the grip they needed from the car. Maybe because of the way the suspension is these days compared to back in say the FRIC [front and read interconnected suspension] days – maybe that concept would have worked.
“But they realised they were going to hit a dead end and it’s better to not start a fresh but to change path.”
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The biggest visual change on the W14, are much bigger sidepods. Mercedes was the only team to use the ‘zero sidepod’ concept back in 2022, and now they are more in line with what the rest of the field has been doing.
“This undercut we call it that around the side there as well trying to channel the air in a more effective way through the back of the car,” Davidson explained.
“I think they’ve got to the point where they realised that they were the only ones [with this concept]. It was a unique car.
“Williams started in a similar way last year and they quickly changed. Aston Martin changed and now it was kind of inevitable that Mercedes at some point were going to have to change things up as well.
“The data from the wind tunnel says these new sidepods, even though they stick out a bit more, do make the car go faster.”
Formula 1’s current regulations are such that more than 50 per cent of downforce is created by the floor. Although this area of the car can rarely be seen by anybody outside the teams, Mercedes’ floor got exposed to the whole world in Monaco FP3, when Lewis Hamilton’s car was being removed from the track via a crane.
Davidson gives his thoughts on what could be observed.
“You can see how complex the floor is around this area here. All these channels and it’s all about trying to encourage the air under the car.
“These are ground effects cars these days and they try and run them as low as they can. But I think they have realised they needed a bit of rake in the car as well, hence having to change a lot of the philosophy of this car.
“The front suspension, in trying to achieve a different platform of the rake of the car, this anti-dive suspension, the pickup points are different here now much higher than they were before,” the Briton concluded.
