Mercedes has found ‘really big steps’ after changing the approach to F1 cars

Mercedes has announced that it is already finding “really big leaps in performance” at its factory after taking a new direction with its Formula 1 car.

The German carmaker has committed itself to an action plan that will trigger a concept change as it moves away from the ‘zeropod’ idea it has been racing with since the start of last season.

And while it knows it will be a long time before it makes the progress it feels it needs to compete at the front, Mercedes has shared some encouraging news with drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

At the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said the squad had already made good performance strides after changing their approach.

“It’s a big improvement in performance relative to where we are now,” said Wolff. “The kind of gains we’re making in our R&D and in aerodynamics are a lot bigger than they’ve been in a long time.

“So we’ve unlocked some potential because now we’re just looking at things from different angles. Based on what we learned from testing and racing in Bahrain, we have a different perspective.

“There was no step back. On the contrary, it was immediately two steps forward.”

While the main focus of the ‘concept’ talks within the team has been the sidepods, the change of direction for Mercedes appears to relate more to the set-up window in which the car rides in relation to the ground.

“I think the biggest change we’ve made is actually checking if we want the car setup to be at its optimal point,” explained Wolff.

“We were too low last year and we were too high this year. And now we think we know what to land on.

“On the other hand, of course, there is everything else that you want to achieve in terms of floor and body.

“So I don’t want to sound too foolishly optimistic, but at least we’re seeing low-hanging fruit with encouraging things.”

Wolff said that as a result of the work done, future developments of the W14 would make it look very different.

“It’s all the aerodynamic surfaces that are visible, from the leading edge through to the diffuser and beam wing,” he said.

“There’s massive crowds on the floor, obviously with a ground effect car, and then there’s a lot more architectural stuff that’s necessary to make things more efficient.

“So the car is literally being turned on its head at the moment and we’re seeing a lot of good things.”

While George Russell’s third-place finish at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix gave the team a hint that things might not be as bad as they looked in Bahrain, Wolff says his views on the team need a major rethink of the cars required are unchanged.

“We always look at benchmark performance, and that is [Max] Verstappen and [Sergio] Perez today and it’s just too far away. So that hasn’t changed.

“I think if Max had finished qualifying the gap would have been even bigger. We’ve seen that with other long runs too.

“So my state of mind hasn’t changed a millimeter just because we’re P3 in qualifying. But the difference is that the trajectory is now fixed. So it’s no longer this one session, one single qualifying session or even one single race. We are now full steam ahead and changing things.”