Mercedes 'looking at solutions' to change zero sidepod design

Mercedes has kept its faith in the unique zero sidepod design it introduced last year, but team boss Toto Wolff says the Brackley squad will eventually implement updates on its W14 that could change the innovative concept.

The aerodynamic and porpoising issues that undermined Mercedes' 2022 campaign have been well chronicled. Early on, it was often suggested that its car's chronic bouncing bronco nature was rooted in the W13's narrow sidepod concept.

In reality, there was no single design element responsible for the machine's erratic behavior, while its innovative sidepods were not "fundamentally" the reason behind the car's underperformance for most of the year, which is why Mercedes opted to keep the concept on its new W14.

"It is important to be bold in this sport," explained Wolff. "I am proud of the solutions we put into the car last year, it is not fundamentally the reason that we didn’t perform."

But the Austrian admitted that development work this season will lead to design changes in the sidepod area of its car.

"There are no holy cows in our concept," he added. "It’s not that we don’t want to follow anybody’s idea.

"We stayed with the narrow sidepod, but you could see developments which could come with upgrades. The sidepods will change – not soon, but we are looking at solutions.

"It is not a core, fundamental part of performance."

• Read also: Hamilton and Russell complete Mercedes full W14 shakedown

Last year, Mercedes kicked off its pre-season preparations with an overall sidepod design that resembled that of its rivals. It then introduced its eye-opening reprofiled 'zero sidepod' solution that it retained for the duration of the season.

Wolff has made clear that there will be no such drastic changes in Bahrain next week or for the opening round of racing at Sakhir.

"Last year we learned a tough lesson because we knew that we would bring an upgrade package for test number two that was worth 1.5 seconds.

"You then look at the first test and think it’s not relevant because it’s not the real car. But we put it on the track and it wasn’t performing at all as we expected.

"This year, we went the other way around. What you have seen is, in large parts, the car we will test and race.

"It is fundamentally important to understand the platform and how the car behaves, rather than keeping bits in the background that may give a tenth or two in aero performance."

"Like Mike [Elliott – Mercedes technical director] said in the launch, if you want to change a concept completely, then you're making not one step back, but probably two or three, and that's why we stayed where we are."

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