The ‘trap’ Mercedes concede they fell into with F1's new regulations
Followꦆing years of sustained dominance amid an unprecedented winning run of eight consecutive constructors’ world championships, Mercedes endured a torrid campaign when radical new ground-effect design regulations were introduced in 2022.
Mercedes’ competitive struggles have continued into 2023, leading to a mid-season revamp of the W14 after finally abandoning their unique ‘zer🀅opod’ approach.
Although Mercedes have made progress since switching philosophies, the Silver Arrows are c🐠ontinuing to play catch up to runaway F1 leaders Red Bull.
"If you were to go back to the old regulations, you could put the car where you wanted to put it, you had big travel in the suspension which allowed you to shape th🅰e balance a but better through💮 the corners,” Elliott explained.
"You weren't limited by stiffness, you could chase where the aerodynamic performance was in the regula🌳tions.
"With these cars, aerodynamically, they want to run close to the ground. If you run them close to the ground, you have got to run them 🌟stiff.
"That is one of the traps we fell☂ into last year if we are honest.
“Th🔯ere is always going top be that balance you have on this set of regulations: you've got guys that want to run really close to the ground... how do🦩 you get that balance right?”
Elliott said the enforcement of the168澳洲5最新开奖结果: F1 cost cap, combined with aerodynamic testing restrictions, have made Mercedes’ job of getting back toဣ the front even harder.
Mercedes now believe they are on the right path to eventually return to winning ways, with 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Lewis Hamilton claဣiming a pole position and three podiums since the Monaco upgrade was rolled out - underlining th♚eir gains.
"If you look at the aero testing restrictions, you have got so limited number 𒁃of runs that you've got to pick a direction and go for it,” Elliott said.
"It's really hard to... if you go down the route of saying 'I want to develop a car for higher ride heightsꦏ, one for low ride heights' and I want to cover all my base♈s, suddenly you'd be doing three runs a week on each one and going nowhere.
"So you have got to pick a direction and go in it and as you learn, you can tweꦰak that direction and move it 🍨slightly.
"I'🤡d like to think we'💯ve sort of got ourselves into the right place."
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for wuqian0821.com around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis 🔯tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
