© Jiri Krenek for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Mercedes’ Technical Director Mike Elliott says “the overall performance of the new cars is probably not going to be very different from the old”.
When the lights go green at the first race of the 2022 season, Formula 1 fans can expect to see radically different cars from the ones they were used to seeing since 2014.
“The new car looks completely different to last year’s and that is just a consequence of the regulations, they are very much a different shape,” Mercedes’ Technical Director Mike Elliott said in the team’s new YouTube video.
“The complexity we used to have around the bargeboard area has gone and the differences between the cars are going to be more in the surface shapes.
“As a result, I think that all of this year’s cars will look fairly similar, have similar shapes and the differences will all be subtle changes in aerodynamic shapes and the surfaces we have got particularly under the car.
“Probably the most visual of that will be how the floor works. The strakes at the leading edge and the shape and camber to the floor will make a difference and completely affect how the car works.”
If you like SilverArrows.Net, consider supporting us by buying us a coffee!
However, while some have predicted that the radical aerodynamic regulation changes will make the new cars slower, Mercedes’ Mike Elliott says the team doesn’t expect there to be much difference.
“The overall performance of the new cars is probably not going to be very different from the old [ones].
“Obviously the intention of these regulations was to try and improve overtaking, and it will be a little bit of time before we can see whether that’s actually happened.
“The car is a bit heavier, the power unit on the E10 fuel is going to perform slightly differently, and the way the aerodynamics are going to work and the set-up of the car that goes with it will be different as well.
“Until we get the best out of that, until we’ve developed that through testing and the first few races, we’re not really going to know.
“But overall, I suspect the performance will be relatively similar to last year,” Elliott concluded.
