Mercedes chief on W13 development: "Were no major issues"

Red Bull Racing and Mercedes faced a very tough task last year. The world championship was still in full swing, but at the same time a car for 2022 had to be developed. Toto Wolff thinks his team has tackled this well and major problems have therefore not arisen in recent months.

Mercedes fully on track

"There weren't major issues," Wolff said on the winter period in a press briefing with various media outlets, including GPblog.

"From the start of the 2021 season, we had a well-mapped out plan on how long we would continue the development of the W12 last year no matter how the championship would pan out. We followed that timeline and it’s all coming together."

The development of the W13 has in no way been delayed by the fierce battle for the World Championship with Max Verstappen and Red Bull. In fact, the 'fire-up' of the W13 already took place in December last year. Never before has Mercedes been so quick to fire up the new car for the first time, according to Wolff.

"That is no guarantee for success, we need to keep on working and see what we drive today. See whether it performs as expected in Barcelona and Bahrain. Encouraging at the moment but there is nothing taken for granted." On Friday afternoon, Mercedes will complete a shakedown at the Silverstone circuit. Next Wednesday, the first week of testing starts at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Less wind tunnel time Mercedes

What does go against Mercedes is that the number one of the past constructors' championship gets more than twenty percent less time in the wind tunnel than the last-placed team. The amount of time available in the wind tunnel decreases in stages, so Red Bull also has a small advantage over Mercedes.

Especially now, because new regulations are being introduced in Formula 1, and simulations from the wind tunnel are extremely important. Wolff: 

"The ability to have more wind tunnel time is of course something you need to bear in mind. The advantage of finishing sixth instead of first in a season is a couple of tenths. You need to catch up, but we were part of these regulations."

Mercedes is not shying away from the competition. "It’s good to create competition, we shall see where everyone is. Personally, I’m not discounting any teams. Anyone could be high up in the standings. We saw it in 2009 with the double diffuser. If the team has discovered game changers, anyone could be ahead at the start," Wolff concludes.