Mercedes and the “zero pontoon” concept: too many questions, few answers

The “zero pontoon” concept, the nightmare of Mercedes For more than one year. Supposed to go against the other philosophies adopted on the grid, this solution has never brought satisfaction to the Silver Arrows. Too complicated to understand, too complicated to adjust and operate, the aerodynamic package introduced on the W13 last year and retained on the W14 this season turns out to be a failure. Of the 24 Grands Prix contested since the start of 2022, the German team has only won one race, the Brazilian Grand Prix last November.

After the blow received during the first two events of the 2023 season, Mercedes has announced a change of philosophy in the coming months and the end of the “zero pontoon” concept. Mike Elliott, technical director of the German team, explained this choice made so early in the 2023 financial year. “After Bahrain we had to accept that we were not where we wanted to be. We had to look at all the elements that make up our car and figure out what we could do differently, how we could get more performance, because there is a big gap to close to catch the leaders. »

Mercedes in the dark: “Did we miss something?” »

The main problem at Mercedes is not the failure of the concept itself, but rather the lack of understanding of it. “The engineers are busy studying the aerodynamics, the shape of the car, the geometry of the sidepods, the geometry of the floor… Have we missed something? We also look into the world of simulation: are we targeting the right things, are we pushing the aerodynamics in the right direction, are we looking at the mechanical settings of the car? Are there things we are missing? What else can we add to the car to make it perform better? » asks Mike Elliott, still looking for answers.

It is not impossible that Mercedes will introduce, from 2023, a “B” version of its W14 to return to the fight against the top teams. According to Mike Elliott, the women and men of Brackley are doing their utmost to make the necessary corrections as quickly as possible. “We want to fight at the forefront, and the only way to do that is to accept that we are not in the position we want to be in and fight and work very hard to get back there, declares the British engineer. Walking around the factory, there's a huge amount of energy, there's a huge amount of work going on. We are already starting to see some of the developments that will allow us to get back into the fight for the title. »

Toto Wolff declared in Jeddah that advances in wind tunnels were already significant for the next evolution of car…and that he would have “no shame” if she were to look like the Red Bull RB19.

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