Thanks to the 2022 budget cap, Mercedes has not yet been able to use a special and more balanced wing. This will be used in 2023, when the team will attempt to compete for the championship again.
Mercedes had good hopes of a three-way battle with Red Bull and Ferrari in 2022, but nothing could be further from the truth. Like McLaren, Aston Martin and Williams, Mercedes took a step back. This was mainly due to porpoising. The team was searching during the first half of the season and, among other things, got the situation under control thanks to new regulations regarding porpoising. The second half of the season then went a lot better, partly thanks to updates. The team took quite a few podium places and even had the chance to win some races. George Russell was ultimately the lucky one in Brazil, so that Mercedes won at least one more race in 2022. There is hope for 2023.
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Wing
Opposite Formu1a.uno A Mercedes engineer says that the team is missing an important update that will be there in 2023 thanks to the budget cap. There is a wing with a lot of downforce and a wing with a little less downforce, but the wing that is in between has yet to come. “We are missing an intermediate wing specification between the high downforce and medium downforce wing specification that we previously used in VT2. During the season we preferred to use the high downforce wing on circuits that require a lower level, but if When it comes to efficiency it would have been better to have a dedicated wing.” There was some fuss a few weeks ago about an updated front wing from Mercedes, which had to be adjusted because it did not comply with FIA regulations. The front wing used by Mercedes in 2022, like Aston Martin’s rear wing, has been banned by the FIA from 2023.
2023
In 2023, Mercedes will hope that they can continue the line of the second half of the season in 2022. In 2023, some more new regulations will be added to prevent porpoising, something that will mainly benefit Mercedes and Ferrari. Red Bull was hardly bothered by it in 2022. In addition, the team has 80% time in the wind tunnel, while Ferrari has 75% and Red Bull is only 63% thanks to the penalty of exceeding the budget cap in 2021. This, combined with Mercedes’ form in the last few races, could see the Silver Arrows back in contention for the title in 2023.
