'Mercedes in Bahrain already with major update for aerodynamic package'

Several teams ran into so-called "porpoising" in Barcelona. Mercedes also suffered from this. Rumours have it that Mercedes will appear in Bahrain with a big new aerodynamic package to solve this problem.

On the straight towards the first corner, many teams suffered from porpoising. Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto was familiar with it and said that the teams underestimated the problem. The Alpine F1 team suffered from it, but so did the top teams Ferrari and Mercedes. At Aston Martin it went completely wrong, the bumping on the straight was extreme and in the corners the AMR22 hardly moved forward.

'Mercedes already has major update ready'

Motorsport.com reports that there is only one way to fix the issue and that in two weeks in Bahrain Mercedes will come up with a big update for the aerodynamic package with the aim of solving the problem. The solution according to Rico Penteado, an F1 engineer with over twenty years of experience, is to strengthen the floor to reduce the flexibility of the floor at the rear, just in front of the rear wheel. The issue cannot be solved in two weeks, so the team will use the coming time to look at a long-term solution.

Still, according to Motorsport.com, the rumour is that Mercedes' W13 will get a big boost with a major update to the aerodynamic package. So what may have been done in the meantime to fix the porpoising issue remains unclear. However, it is conceivable that the rear will be strengthened for the next test days. The long-term solution will then probably be seen during one of the first races of the season.