Report: Mercedes F1 Development Comes to Brief Halt Amidst Extreme Porpoising

Mercedes haven’t had a great start this season and it might just be the start of their downfall. Although, many believe that the Silver Arrows will soon make a comeback to fight at the top of the table. But as things stand, the German constructors were disappointing in the Jeddah race last week. The car is still facing issues with porpoising. Mercedes are looking to fix this issue, but it might cost them upgrades in other areas of the W13.

The eight-time world champion constructor dominated the sport in the past few years. So, they entered the 2022 season with W13 and had confidence in their new car. But their 2022 challenger has been a disappointment for the Silver Arrows. Since the pre-season, the car is experiencing significant proposing, which has greatly affected the car’s straight-line speeds and its braking.

Since it seems to be the biggest issue with their car, the team is working on solving porpoising but it’s affecting the other development areas of the car.

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“We assumed that the bounce in Jeddah would be a lot less because the tarmac is much flatter. We were wrong about that,” A Mercedes engineer reported. “Every week that you are behind the times with one problem, the rest of the development comes to a standstill.”

Mercedes will introduce a new rear wing

The Silver Arrows introduced many controversial upgrades this season, like the “no sidepods” and aerodynamic mirrors. But all those upgrades weren’t much help to improve the performance of the W13. Lewis Hamilton bagged a podium in Bahrain, but that only became possible when the 2 Red Bull cars ahead of Lewis retired from the race. However, the Silver Arrows weren’t that fortunate in Saudi Arabia and the best they could get was P5 with George Russell.

Mercedes is having issues with porpoising, which is not allowing them to have the impressive speed like past seasons. The engineers at the Brackley base deduced that the 2022 challenger might generate too much air resistance. So, the German constructor’s intervention in the upper element of the rear wing didn’t solve the problem in Saudi. Now, Mercedes is planning to introduce a new rear wing for their car in the upcoming race in Melbourne.

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The 2022 season is far from over, with 21 races still left on the calendar. Mercedes still have time to get back to the fight in front. For now, let’s see if the new rear wing improves the performance of Mercedes in the Australian GP.