Mercedes to bring in upgrade packages at Miami

Mercedes has had a rough start to their F1 season and are the representatives of the top team went mid field for 2022. Just like Ferrari were in 2020 and 2021. But, unlike Ferrari, Mercedes have a solveable issue and are reportedly constantly working for a fix to their porpoising and performance issues with the car which brought in abysmal results for the team. Toto Wolff went as far to say that their current car wasn’t worthy of a world champion driver in a post-race interview at Imola.

So, what are they planning now? Well, definitely some things. Mercedes engineer Andrew Shovlin stated that Mercedes might bring in new parts to Miami. The team is looking to proceed in a direction with these new parts and see if it is the right direction after multiple tests in order to finally have a way out. He stated, “hopefully, soon, maybe as soon as Miami, we can start to bring some parts to the car that will hopefully give us an indication on whether we are moving in the right direction.”

Team Principal Toto Wollf meanwhile almost confirmed that new parts are coming to Miami in his comments for Mercedes’ weekend preview. Though, he intimated that anything tried at Miami would be more about validating the direction for following upgrades rather than being immediately game-changing new parts. He said, “Since we returned from Italy, we’ve learned as much from the weekend as we can and, in parallel, our learning has continued in the windtunnel and simulations.”

Wollf added “We have found several directions for improving the car, and we will be conducting experiments in Miami to correlate those simulations, and hopefully confirm the development path for the coming races. Both drivers have been working in the simulator ahead of Miami and the factories have been busy producing updates for the next races. The saying ‘smooth seas do not make good sailors’ comes to mind. This team has shown its resilience over many years and the difficult start to this season has lit a fire within every team member, determined to put it right.”