Spanish pundit Alberto Fabrega, who comments on races on the DAZN F1 TV channel, took part in the next edition of the F1 Nation podcast, sharing his thoughts on the difficulties the Mercedes team faced this year.
Albert Fabrega: “I’m sure that in previous years (when the teams’ budgets were not limited) it would have been easier for Mercedes to deal with the problems. But already in the last season they started to have a hard time. This is not to say that this team managed to build the best car every year, but it was able to react very quickly to any problems.
This is a strong team in which all processes are perfectly debugged, but now the situation has changed. The transition to the new technical regulations had a strong impact on her. Previously, powerful organizations such as Ferrari, Red Bull Racing or Mercedes could develop ten different aerodynamic concepts in parallel and then select the most promising one.
But now you have to work more efficiently, choose more precisely which solutions you will test with CFD technologies, blow through in a wind tunnel and then apply it to the design of the machine.
It’s pretty clear that Mercedes made a mistake at some point in making the chassis, something clearly isn’t working as they expected. And now, if you make a miscalculation, it’s much harder to correct because you only have one option – you can’t choose from ten options, you can’t work in ten areas at once.
You must immediately make the right choice for one, maximum two options, and try them out in the races. If previously they were able to bring three versions of the wing or bottom to the races, this is all a thing of the past now, so it will take some time for Mercedes to pick up the pace to the desired level.
Moreover, it cannot be ruled out that they will have to put everything they have prepared this season behind them and start preparing for 2023 earlier than expected.
However, we still don’t know what the real potential of the W13 is – the team itself doesn’t know either, because the problem of the build-up of the car at high speeds doesn’t show it. And if Mercedes manages to solve this problem, they may still be able to fight Ferrari and Red Bull, but we don’t know yet. We shall see…”
Source: F1 News
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
