The upgrades Mercedes could bring to Imola to save their F1 season
A critical weekend for Mercedes
The 2023 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix could be the most impo🍃rtant weekend in Mercedes’ future - in the short term, but also for next year.
Since the season kicked off in ear💃ly March at the Bahrain International Circuit, Mercedes have been consistent💯 in their message of Imola being the turning point in their season.
While expectations have been reigned in by 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Lewis Hamilton and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:George Russell in recent we൲eks, Mercedes are pinning their hopes on a substantial upgra♛de package for the race at Imola.
Mercedes boss Toto ཧWolff hopes the upgrade can cure why t𓂃he Mercedes W14 is so “poisonous” to drive.
“I think we are chasing downforce and we're trying to do the best possible job in꧑ terms of the mechanical platform,” Wolff said.
“What we're doing is we're introducing a new bodywork, and we're i♔ntroducing a new floor and we're doing a new front suspension and that's pretty large. That's a pretty large operation. Large surgery. It’s going to be a lot of learning in the virtual world, where it is good lap time.
“That'💃s why the upgrade that we're bringing is going to help us to set the direction, and to understand the various areas that we believe could play a role in why the car is so poisonous to drive."
From everything Wolff and s🍒ome of Mercedes’ key staff have said in recent weeks, we have a clear indication about what parts specifically they are likely to bring to Imola.
No doubt, had it not been for the cost cap, Mercedes would have developed an entirely new ‘b-spec’ car for this weekend, but ꦑgiven the financial restrictions they simply can't.
One key area that Mercedesﷺ have focused on with their development is the f♐ront suspension.
The suspension is o�𓆉�ne area Red Bull have excelled in with their RB19.
Red Bull’s suspension design is focused aro🐼und ‘anti-dive’ under braking and ‘squat’ during acceleration, which allows the car to run closer to the g༒round.
The closer a car can run to the ground, the more dow♑nforce it has, gaining more lap time as a result.
Consequently, Red Bull are allowed t🤡o run less rear wing🌠 meaning there’s less drag and thus more straight-line speed.
So it’s no surpri🉐se Mercedes are focusing on the floor and their front suspension given Red Bull’s incredible start to the year.
Mercedes are still the only tea💦m to be running their own, unique sidepod design.
With Red Bull enjoying such a sizable adva🍌ntage over the rest, it’s another area t♚hat
Mercedes will likely change at Imola or in the coming races as teams conve🌱rg💜e towards the reigning world champion’s concept.
Friday at Imola is going to be a fascinating weekend with a number of teams bringing big upgrad🎶es to turn their seasons around.
Besides their own respective compe💟titiveness, let’s hop⭕e they work for the good of the sport in 2023.
A true test of Perez’s mettle
168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Sergio Perez would have been wounded after he was beaten by 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Max Verstappen at the Miami Grand Prix.
It was an important reminder to anyone who thinks Perez is a 🥃credible title contender that he still needs to make another step to contend with Verstappen.
All of Perez’s wi🀅ns for Red Bull have been at street circuits - Azerbaijan twice, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.
As pointed out by his own team boss after April’s race in Baku “⛄he just needs to 🍎do it at a normal track now”.
“So he’s excelled at street circuits,” Horner said. “All his victories for u🐓s have been at street tracks. Second time he’s won here, won in Singapore, wo♈n in Monaco, won in Jeddah.
“Just need to get him going at the proper circuits, tᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ🔥ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚoo.”
With F1 returning to Europe, there’s a number of ꦯ“normal ci♒rcuits” coming up with Imola and Spain.
However, the good news for Perez is that Monaco takes ඣplace at the end of this month.
Can de Vries avoid a ‘red card’?
Since the race in Miami, the pressure has ramped up on 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri.
There has been a raft of speculation about his future with the team, linking the likes of 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson with his seat.
De Vries has struggled considerably in the opening five races of F1 2023 as he has been comp💃rehensively out-performed by teamm🌳ate Yuki Tsunoda.
Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko has sai꧅d he’s issued de Vries a ‘yellow card’ - making reference to football where a player is awarded a yellow card foll♉owing a foul.
A second yell🐭ow card results in a red and their🦂 removal from the game.
It seems that de ღVries is on borrowed time and quickly need𓆉s to turn his season around in F1’s triple-header.
New qualifying format for Imola
As confirmed by F1 tyre Pirel🌜li, there will be a slightly different qualifyi🅺ng format in play this weekend.
For Q1, drivers will only bꦛe allowed to run on the white-marked hard tyre, for Q2 it will be the yellow-marked medium, while in Q3, drivers are only allowed to use the soft.
This is being tr﷽ialled at two events this season to cut down on the number of tyres brought to a race weekend.
It reduces the total allocation f☂or each ﷽car from 13 sets to 11 per weekend.
With a sharp eye for F1’s controversies and storylines, Connor is the ꦜheartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
