Mercedes: Final W13 upgrade in Austin also about learning for 2023.
Mercedes will head to Austin next week with one final upgrade for its W13 in its crates, to hopefully produce performance gains but also to accumulate more learnings for next season.
13/10/2022 at 16:09
Phillip van Osten

The aerodynamic complexities of Mercedes’ 2022 car and the troubles they spawned threw a massive curve ball to the Brackley squad’s engineers who have spent their year tirelessly trying to understand and solve their design’s problematic and often erratic behaviour.

The hope of achieving a step forward in the wake of an update or fundamental set-up change was often followed by two steps backward. Nevertheless, each passing race has delivered its share of knowledge, most of which has been canvassed and channeled towards next year’s contender.

“It’s our final step of aero development and that will hopefully give us a bit more performance but importantly with every step, we are learning more and more and that learning we can carry into next year,” said Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director

‘Final W13 upgrade’;

https://f1i.com/news/457077-mercedes...-for-2023.html


Mercedes plan final W13 upgrade package for Austin
14 October, 2022
Jad Mallak

Mercedes are planning to introduce a final aero upgrade package for their 2022 Formula 1 car, the W13, at the upcoming United States Grand Prix in Austin. Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director, Andrew Shovlin said of the W13 upgrade; he said: “It’s our final step of aero development and that will hopefully give us a bit more performance.

“But importantly with every step, we are learning more and more and that learning we can carry into next year,” he added. “So that’s part of it, also there is a few bits where we have taken some weight out of components that will hopefully get the car closer to the weight limit.”

“It’s very difficult for us to predict where we are going to be,” he said. “In Singapore Lewis was awfully close to pole position, yet in Suzuka both cars had a big gap to the front. Now, our race pace has been reasonably strong, so, if we can make a step hopefully, we can get into the fight with the Ferraris and the Red Bulls but qualifying for us is the really difficult one to predict at the moment.”

‘Mercedes plan final W13 upgrade’;

https://www.grandprix247.com/2022/10...ge-for-austin/


Mercedes see light at the end of the tunnel after W13 "experiments"
Friday 14 October 2022 12:38
Sam Hall

Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott believes the team can now finally see light at the end of the tunnel after a difficult year. The Silver Arrows face ending the season without a win for the first time since 2011 after failing to adapt as well as Red Bull and Ferrari to the new technical regulations.

The team has been open with regard to its struggles despite a number of promising performances that have included 13 podium finishes, a number greatly aided by faultless reliability. Asked if Mercedes has improved the W13 as much as it can without making "fundamental changes", Elliott said: “I think we never have.”

"We probably got about halfway through the season and realised - probably not even halfway - that we were not fighting for the championship and I think your aims then change. While we want to do well this year, what we are really aiming to do is to get back fighting at the front.”

‘Light at the end of the tunnel’;

https://www.gpfans.com/en/f1-news/93...3-experiments/


Mercedes explain why W13 was so slow on straights at Suzuka
Thursday 13th October 2022 4:00 PM
Michelle Foster

Lacking straight line at Suzuka, which cost Lewis Hamilton in his battle with Esteban Ocon, Andrew Shovlin says Mercedes paid the price for running “our highest downforce level” in a race without DRS.

According to Auto Motor und Sport, Hamilton and George Russell were tied for 19th and 20th place at the two measuring points, the first on the home straight and the second on the straight after the Spoon curve. Their deficit to the Red Bull was ‘eight to ten km/h, to the Ferrari and Alpine six to eight km/h’.

Mercedes’ problem on the day was that they ran a large rear wing, bigger than that used by Red Bull, Ferrari or Alpine, and with no DRS in play on the wet track the drivers found it difficult to overtake. “We decided to stay at our highest downforce level,” explained Shovlin, the team’s trackside engineering director.”

‘Mercedes explain why W13 was so slow on straights’;

https://www.planetf1.com/news/merced...aights-suzuka/


Mercedes admit to mid-season ‘kick in the teeth’ with W13 development
Wednesday 12th October 2022 7:30 AM
Jon Wilde

Mercedes have admitted they suffered a “kick in the teeth” with the W13, just when it looked like their worst problems were behind them. An underlying problem remains and, says Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott, will need to be resolved during the winter if the team are to have a stronger 2023 campaign, still seeking a first victory of this term.

“The issues we’ve built into the car we couldn’t see because of the bouncing,” said Elliott, quoted by Motorsport.com. “The bouncing was just dominating everything. And once we’d got on top of that in Barcelona – we got a package that made quite a substantial difference there – we thought ‘we’re in, we’re going in the right direction’, and then got a proper kick in the teeth in the next two races.”

“You peel the next layer off the onion, if you like, and you’ve got another problem. That was the one we’d really baked into the car in the winter. Since then, we’ve brought various steps to try and move us in the right direction, but to really undo that will take the winter.”

‘Mid-season ‘kick in the teeth’;

https://www.planetf1.com/news/merced...-kicked-teeth/