In Monaco, the three-pointed star abandons the “Zero sidepod” concept. But that’s not all: on the W14 here is the modification requested by Lewis Hamilton to regain the driving feeling
Mercedes goes all-in with the long-awaited technical revolution, which in the intentions of the Brackley designers should correct the congenital defects of the W14. Version B of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell’s car should have debuted on the track at Imola this weekend, but will still make its debut on the weekend of May 28 when the GP paddock will stop in Montecarlo. Despite the obvious pitfalls of the street circuit of the Principality of Monaco, the team led by Toto Wolff does not want to waste any more precious time, thus taking advantage of the first available date to put the car on the track with the new sides, which will abandon the “zero sidepod” road undertaken in 2022.
NEW PRO-HAMILTON
—
The revised version of the Mercedes W14 will therefore have a completely new design of the side pods inspired by Red Bull, which will be immediately visible even to less expert eyes and will radically change the aerodynamics of the car. But this is not the only novelty on the way: Lewis Hamilton will in fact get the passenger compartment to move back after having repeatedly complained of not being at ease, of feeling “as if sitting on the front wheels” and therefore receiving “one of the worse for those who drive a racing car”. Clearly it won’t be possible to revolutionize this aspect too for reasons related to the budget cap, but the modular structure at the base of the project still allows for a few centimeters of rear margin to help the rider perform at his best without the need to change the frame.
SPEAK TOTO WOLFF
—
To announce an intervention in this sense was the team principal Toto Wolff who, interviewed by Speed Week, clarified Mercedes’ intention to meet Hamilton’s wishes: “It is true that our cockpit is a little further compared to our rivals and that this feature annoys Lewis. This was already the case in 2022, but now we have a margin of about 15 centimeters for the positioning of the cockpit. From a technical point of view, we don’t believe this is a problem with the car, but we are working to improve the position of the riders because in such cases it’s not just about rational things like weight distribution and aerodynamics, but also about sensations driving. Hamilton has been very clear about what he expects and we have listened to his opinion ”.
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED