F1 News: Mercedes Under Fire As Competition Jumps On Bahrain Design Changes

The Mercedes W13 F1 car has been the focus of many conversations during the lead up to the testing in Bahrain.

As you’ve all now hopefully seen, the latest iteration of the car has lost its sidepods in an attempt to improve its aerodynamics, with some even thinking it could cut a whole second off its lap times. Ross Brawn, managing director of Formula 1 said:

“(It’s) a very extreme interpretation of the regulations and inevitably there will be a lot of debate”.

A number of teams have expressed their opinions on the new Mercedes. Christian Horner, team principle of Red Bull said, “for us, there are some parts that are not legal”. It is rumoured that Ferrari team principle, Mattia Binotto, is looking to contest some of Mercedes’ changes.

Thia comes in the form of the mirror assembly which the Ferrari chief suspects goes against the new 2022 regulations.

Binotto said the following at the Bahrain press conference whilst sat next to Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff:

“On the mirrors, some are surprised. I find that quite surprising. That’s not something we are expecting.

“I think in the spirit of that, some things are needed. I think for the future [they] need to be addressed.

“Already in the past, we always argued the mirrors should not have any aero purpose. They should be there just to look behind.

“I think the way [Mercedes] treated or designed their car, certainly there is a significant aero purpose in the mirrors itself and I think something we need to stop for the future, no doubt, because the risk is we will come in the future that all the teams start designing mirrors that look like spaceships.

“I don’t think that’s what we are looking for as F1.”

Despite Binotto revealing his concerns towards the car, he did admit that the side pods were not of a concern, adding that he thought it was a “great car”.

Earlier today media outlets were unsure as to whether Horner was correctly quoted when talking about the Mercedes but he later told the media the following:

“[I have not] paid a great deal of attention to [the Mercedes]. It’s obviously a fairly different concept, but that’s for the designer guys and aerodynamicists to get into”.