The ‘trap’ Mercedes concede they fell into with F1's new regulations
Following 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 ‘z🐓eropod’ approach.
Although Mercedes have made progress since𓄧 switching philosophies, the Silver Arrows are continuing to play catch up to runaway F1 leaders Red B♕ull.
"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 the balance a but be♌tter through the corners,” Elliott explained.
"You weren't limited by stiffness, you could chase where the aerꦇodynamic pe✅rformance was in the regulations.
"With these cars, aerodynamic🌄ally, 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 tr🃏aps we fell into last year 🌟if we are honest.
“There is always g🌼oing 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 g🧔et that balance right?”
Elliott said the enforcement of the168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: F1 cost cap, combined with aerodynamic testing restrictions, have made Mercedes’ job of getting back to the front even harder꧙.ဣ
Mercedes now believe they are on the right path to eventually return to winning ways, with 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton claiming a pole position and thre𓆏e podiums since the Monaco upgrade was rolled out - underlining their gains.
"If you look at the aero testing restrictions, you have got so limited number of runs that you've got to picไk 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 heights, one 🤪for low ride heights' and I want to cover all my bases, 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 aꦛnd as you learn, you can tweak 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 ltxcn.top around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
