Mercedes to debut significant upgrades in Spa

Mercedes’s latest upgrade has broken cover in Spa as teams are preparing their cars for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix. The eight-time world champion team is set to introduce a major upgrade to the sidepod configuration of its W14.

After introducing the so called zeropod concept at the start of Formula One’s new technical era at the dawn of the 2022 F1 season, Mercedes continued to fine-tune their own unique philosophy and make their car a race-winning machine.

However, the Brackley-based realized the constrains of the zeropod concept and abandoned it earlier this year at the Monaco Grand Prix, introducing a more conventional, downwash sidepod and engine cover configuration.

The team then focused on the front of the W14, introducing a new front wing at Silverstone before debuting further tweaks to it at the following Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Anglo-German team appears to have pressed on with optimising the new sidepod concept, having brought a raft of upgrades for the Spa-Francorchamps weekend.

The Spa upgrade includes tweaks to the sidepod inlet, engine cover, floor and rear wing.

The shape and size of the sidepod inlet has been revised. The inlet has been enlarged and sports a horizontal U-shape. The aim with the larger inlet it to improve flow quality to sidepod radiators and enhance engine cooling. The team also hopes that the larger inlets will allow them to use less louvres for a given cooling level.

There is also a significant change in the engine cover area which features now a deeper curvature. The new configuration features a revised downwash ramp section that sports a more abrupt drop-off towards the floor.

The team hopes that the increased coke side view camber will improve onset flow to the rear of the car, notably the rear wing which gains downforce and drag.

The team has also brought a revised floor body. The new version has a slightly simpler edge, featuring less complicated curvatures along its length. With the tweak to the floor edge, the volume distribution has been adjusted with the aim to extract more local load from the forward floor vortex system, which in turn improves flow to the diffuser.

Mercedes also brought a circuit-specific rear wing that sports reduced camber and reduced chord which with produces less downforce and drag than the standard level. Currently, Lewis Hamilton’s car is equipped with the new specification low drag rear wing while his team-mate George Russell is set to use a higher drag rear wing.