Mercedes believes that the team’s infamous ‘zeropod’ car concept might have worked with the knowledge it has since acquired under Formula 1’s current regulations.
The German marque went into F1’s return to ground effect cars in 2022 as the team to overcome having won an unprecedented eight consecutive Constructors’ titles.
However, Mercedes endured setbacks with a W12 car that contained ambitious minimalist sidepods which didn’t deliver the anticipated gains seen in the wind tunnel.
Mercedes experienced vast trouble with excessive porpoising which meant the squad had to raise the car’s ride height at the expense of downforce and thus lap time.
But having retained that concept at launch last season, Mercedes reverted to a more conventional design in the seventh round and ended up second in the standings.
Mercedes has since developed its latest W15 challenger into a position where it has claimed three victories in the four races leading up to the ongoing summer break.
Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin is adamant, though, that the ditched philosophe could’ve succeeded with the understanding that it now has.
“Yes, in the sense that if any team knew what they knew now and were able to jump back to 2021 and have another go at it,” Shovlin said in Belgium.
“They would have the fastest car because every team has had to go through a significant learning phase. In that sense, we could have got those sidepods to work.”
However, Shovlin has ruled out Mercedes reconsidering a switch back to the ‘zeropod’ design as he acknowledged that its current route has produced greater results.
“Would they have had the same performance as the current design of the car? Maybe not,” he added.
“But [the sidepods] weren’t actually the biggest thing that was wrong with that car, there were other things that, if we were allowed to fix two things, probably the sidepods wouldn’t have been on that list.
“However, where we are now is clearly a more performant solution.”
Shovlin has contended that the evolving pecking order at the sharp end this term showcases that teams still don’t have a complete handle on the current regulations.
“Well, there will always be an element of trial and error because Formula 1 cars are the product of research, and not all research proves correct,” he expanded.
“You’re basing it on theories around how you think the aerodynamics work, the tyres work, and what’s important in terms of vehicle dynamics – you’re constantly trying to get your models to better reflect the car on the track.
“So I think there’ll always be an element of trial and error, our issue was more that we were being caught out with problems that we hadn’t anticipated well enough.
“That has been one of the big challenges. But, if you just look at the way that the performance of teams is moving around at the moment, it’s evident that no one understands everything that there is to know about the current generation of cars.”
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