Mercedes: Switch to high-rake concept would write off F1 2021 campaign
Mercedes says switching its car to a high-rake concept this year to overcome downforce losses would make the 2021 Formula 1 season a 'write-off'.
The German manufacturer suspects that F1’s new aero rules have hurt the low-rake cars much more than their high-rake rivals.
Customer team Aston Martin, which also runs a low-rake car, thinks that the performance swing due to the floor changes is as much as one-second per lap.
While there is some scope for both Mercedes and Aston Martin to run the rear of their cars slightly higher to recover some of the downforce losses, doing so to the extremes that a team like Red Bull does is impossible.
PLUS: How the 'Great F1 Rake-Off' delivered a Bahrain GP showdown
Not only would that require an all-new rear suspension set-up, something that is not allowed under the current rules, but it would also force both outfits to start their aero platforms from scratch.
Mercedes trackside engineering chief Andrew Shovlin said many months of work would then be required to even get back to current downforce levels, by which stage the championship would be long lost.
"We've got a car that could win a championship if we make some clever decisions with it, do some good work with it and operate well over the year," he explained.
"But whether or not it's high-rake or low-rake, we can't do anything about that now. What we certainly can't do is suddenly say we're going to lift the rear of our car 30mm and work with that, because that would write off the season. We would lose so much in doing that - to recover it, it's just not practical."
Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer reckoned that the rear suspension situation made a pursuit for a higher rake car impossible.
"For the first time ever that I can remember, in my 24 years of the sport, we've had to homologate the suspension due to the COVID regulations," he said.
"You could only change it if you actually used your tokens on suspension. So even if we wanted to run 150mm rear rideheight, we can't."
Shovlin said that while the evidence may point to the new rules having swung things in favour of the high-rake cars, there was no point in Mercedes wasting time worrying about it.
"Did this set of regulations drag back low-rake cars more than high-rake cars? That may well be the case," he said.
"I know that they [Red Bull] won the last race [of 2020] but, generally, we were ahead at the end of the year and that's not the case now.
"So, either we took a bigger hit with the rules or they've had a faster rate of development since they applied the regulation changes. But it is what it is."
Related video
Ferrari: F1 podium still far away despite Bahrain GP progress
Mazepin "beating himself up" over Bahrain woes, says Steiner
Inside the Faenza facility where AlphaTauri’s F1 pragmatic vision is realised
AlphaTauri’s mission in F1 is to sell clothes and train young drivers rather than win the championship – but you still need a cutting-edge factory to do that. Team boss Franz Tost takes GP Racing’s OLEG KARPOV on a guided tour of a facility that’s continuing to grow
Connecting two of Ferrari's favourite F1 sons
Gilles Villeneuve's exploits behind the wheel of a Ferrari made him a legend to the tifosi, even 40 years after his death. The team's current Formula 1 star Charles Leclerc enjoys a similar status, and recently got behind the wheel of a very special car from the French-Canadian’s career
How a 30cm metal wire triggered open warfare in the F1 paddock
Porpoising has become the key talking point during the 2022 Formula 1 season, as teams battle to come to terms with it. An FIA technical directive ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix and a second stay appearing on the Mercedes cars only served to create a bigger debate and raise tensions further
Does Verstappen have any weaknesses left?
Having extended his Formula 1 points lead with victory in Canada, Max Verstappen has raised his game further following his 2021 title triumph. Even on the days where Red Bull appears to be second best to Ferrari, Verstappen is getting the most out of the car in each race. So, does he have any weaknesses that his title rivals can exploit?
How F1's future fuels can shape the automotive sector
In 2026, Formula 1 plans to make the switch to a fully sustainable fuel, as the greater automotive world considers its own alternative propulsion methods. Biogasoline and e-fuels both have merit as 'drop-in' fuels but, equally, both have their shortcomings...
The breakthrough behind Sainz’s best weekend of F1 2022 so far
OPINION: Carlos Sainz came close to winning in Monaco but needed that race’s specific circumstances for his shot at a maiden Formula 1 victory to appear. Last weekend in Canada, he led the line for Ferrari in Charles Leclerc’s absence from the front. And there’s a key reason why Sainz has turned his 2022 form around
Canadian Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2022
Plenty of high scores but just a single perfect 10 from the first Montreal race in three years, as Max Verstappen fended off late pressure from Carlos Sainz. Here’s Autosport’s assessment on the Formula 1 drivers from the Canadian Grand Prix
Why “faster” Ferrari couldn’t beat Red Bull in Canadian GP
On paper the Canadian Grand Prix will go down as Max Verstappen’s latest triumph, fending off late pressure from Carlos Sainz to extend his Formula 1 world championship lead. But as safety car periods, virtual and real, shook up the race Ferrari demonstrated it can take the fight to Red Bull after recent failures