A revolution could be brewing for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes with an alleged new aero concept of F1 car totally different to the rest. With just hours to go before the second winter test period, rumours are growing about the revolutionary upgrades that Mercedes could make to its W13 Formula 1 car.
The teams are due to meet in Bahrain on Thursday for the final winter test of the season after the Barcelona test a few days ago. This will be an opportunity to find out more about the hierarchy within the grid, as the teams have probably hidden the true potential of their cars.
The first test was mostly aimed at reliability and above all on understanding the new elements brought to the cars, which have been made very different by the new regulations. It is rumoured that Mercedes could come up with some big changes, effectively making the car a B spec.
This is more likely pic.twitter.com/A58UUL50f6
— Craig Scarborough (@ScarbsTech) March 8, 2022
Revolutionary developments on the Mercedes
Indeed, the Bahrain test will probably have nothing to do with Barcelona as all the teams will be bringing their latest developments, starting with Mercedes who could even totally alter their car completely.
In the paddock, rumours are swirling that Lewis Hamilton and George Russell’s W13 will be virtually engine-less, as in the engine squeezed into the smallest possible space, practically removing the sidepods completely.
Such a change has required technical approval from the FIA, but the team led by Toto Wolff has reportedly been given the green light. This revolution would offer a colossal gain in aerodynamics, so much so that some team bosses are already very worried about the performance of the Mercedes.
“Everyone is flying to Bahrain with new parts. The biggest improvements are usually the ones you can see from the outside,” a source at the German team told the French publication Nextgen-auto.com.
Update: New footage of Hamilton’s extreme new Mercedes
With an almost total deletion of the cars’ sidepods, performance increase is rumoured to be up to 1 second per lap faster. Of course, this is…. READ MORE ON THIS STORY
We’ll see if they (or any team for that matter) do anything similar to 2019.
I will believe this rumor only after I see it tun race simulations at a competitive speed. I call total bullshit until then
What about verstappen . Can we buy him another masi for this season?
Great engineering! If it works, chapeau for MB. Catch-up race for all other teams. The only downside will be that certain fans, again, will credit the driver for the performance gains…
Well if Russell wins, the same fans will credit (or in this instance, blame) the car… 😉
Haha… true !