Mercedes plays hide and seek with the competition

Present your news car but show as little as possible. This seems to be the credo of the launches F1 2021. 

After Alpha Tauri, which did not immediately reveal the new nose of its AT02, then Red Bull, of which no image of the RB16B on track has filtered after its burn-in at Silverstone, it is the turn of Mercedes to play hide and seek with the competition. 

Unveiled this Tuesday morning, the new W12 retains several gray areas on the technical level, a desire assumed by the seven-time world champions. Indeed, the latter do not wish to reveal where the 2 authorized development tokens were invested.

« At first glance you can see that the car looks like an old acquaintance, specified technical director James Allison when detailing the lines of the latest creation from Brackley (United Kingdom). The monocoque is the same, the gearbox too, as are many of the internal structures. 

Now, if you look closely, you notice some size differences. If we take the pontoons, we can see a bulge, which hides the work accomplished by our friends in the engine department at HPP (High Performance Powertains, Editor’s note) to add horses under the hood. 

The part that is not shown to you is located at the edge of the flat bottom. This is the area most affected by the changes contained in the 2021 technical regulations, which aim to bring down performance. 

We are not ready to reveal these aerodynamic details, not that they are missing but we do not want our rivals to be able to look at them and possibly be inspired by them. This gives us a few days head start on them. ». 

The big bluff will continue until the winter tests in Bahrain (March 12-14).