“Team struggled to adjust to downforce changes” – Mercedes’ technical director Mike Elliott reflecting on the 2021 W12

Mercedes’ technical director explained how the 2021 rear floor downforce alterations harmed the teams’ performance.

Elliott reflected on how the downforce modifications had influenced the team over the season:

“Well, the impact was large for us. In terms of was it as we predicted? I think the reality is, you don’t really try and predict, you put it on the model in the tunnel, you test it in CFD, and you see where you are and you try and work around it,” the Technical Director told F1’s Tech Talks.

“What you’re trying to do is to look at the changes it makes to the flow field and say, ‘Can I recover those same features?’. Those same positive features from before that change.

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“I think the interesting question is, in terms of the effect it had relative to different teams, if I go back to that period of time and look at it in hindsight, I suspect we were more impacted than other teams and we certainly didn’t realize that at the time.”

“We have to attack and deal with”: Mercedes on accepting the regulations and fighting for the championship

Elliott explained that the immediate effects of the downforce changes weren’t apparent until the car hit the track in pre-season testing in Bahrain.

“I think when we first saw the impact, it came from predominantly at the ride height we were running the car,” he explained.

“But that’s where you’d expect to take the hit. You take the hit where you’ve got the biggest performance. As we developed the car, we started finding there were gains to be had at higher ride heights.

“Our car this year runs slightly higher ride heights than it did in the previous year as a result of that. But ultimately, the rules are just a game. That’s something we have to challenge, we have to attack and deal with.”

“Why we are going heavier?”: Lewis’s stance against next year cars

Next year’s cars will now reportedly be a hefty 43kg heavier than before, weighing close to 800kg.

Hamilton spoke out against F1 cars getting heavier earlier this season, questioning whether the move fits with the sport’s ethos of being more sustainable.

“I don’t understand why we’re going heavier,” he said in the summer.

“I don’t understand particularly why we go heavier when there’s all this talk about being more sustainable – just as the sport is going in that direction.

“By going heavier and heavier and heavier, you’re using more and more energy.  So that feels that’s not necessarily in the right direction or in the thought process.”

With the new regulations in place from this season, we cannot wait for the car launches which are scheduled to be revealed from February onwards.

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