“F1 cars have never been as naked as this year”– Mercedes adopted absurd solution to solve W13 overweight issue

Mercedes is having a hard time in 2022 and their car along with others is also overweight, but they have a strange solution.

In 2022, all the teams are facing car weight issues. Both Mercedes and Red Bull are reportedly 15kgs overweight, while Ferrari is marginally five kgs over the limit.

Thus to solve the overweight issue, Mercedes reportedly removed the paint from the front wings after the Barcelona testing. It can easily be said as something strange. But at the same time, it is indicating that Mercedes have little room to do modifications.

The full body paint of an F1 car can weigh over six kgs. Thus, it is surely a luxury for the teams struggling for reducing their weight. Despite this, that also Mercedes is still struggling with weight issues. Presently, only Alfa Romeo is the only team to be within the limit.

#F1: In an attempt to lower the weight of the W13, Mercedes scratched the black paint away from the three flaps of their front wing after the Barcelona tests.

“In fact, F1 cars have never been as naked as this year. Never before has so little surface been sprayed with paint.”

— deni (@fiagirly) April 3, 2022

Also read: When Lewis Hamilton met Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller during once in lifetime yet ‘boring’ boxing match

Mercedes not the only one

According to the report by AMuS, Mercedes is not the only team to save on the paint to reduce the weight on the car. Teams like Red Bull, McLaren and Williams are also doing the same.

“After the Bahrain tests, Red Bull did without paint on the two lower wing elements,” says the AMuS report. “Mercedes scratched the black paint off the three flaps after the Barcelona tests.”

“At McLaren, only the rear wing flap is colored light blue; a lot of the orange area on the bonnet disappeared between Barcelona and Bahrain. Williams does without blue areas on the cockpit side.”

The diet is best seen on the side boxes and the chassis flanks. At Red Bull you get the impression that the painter ran out of paint. The lower part of the side panels is black. At Alpine it is the rear part and the tail fairing. Williams saves paint on the lower part of the engine cover.

Also read: Lewis Hamilton says he does not have any desires to race in anything other than F1

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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