Mercedes Confident in New F1 Floor Gains Despite Handling Concerns

Mercedes optimistic about F1 floor improvements, but note potential handling issues

Mercedes explain the performance of their latest floor upgrade and acknowledge a potential drawback.

Mercedes announced that their latest Formula 1 floor upgrade is producing the anticipated level of downforce. However, they suggested that it might have impacted the car's handling traits.

Before the summer recess, Mercedes unveiled an updated floor design for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Because of the bad weather during practice, Mercedes decided not to continue testing at Spa, but later secured the win with Lewis Hamilton.

Mercedes chose to proceed at Zandvoort but faced difficulties with their speed, resulting in both drivers finishing significantly behind Lando Norris.

In a recent video posted on Mercedes' YouTube channel, Andrew Shovlin, the head of trackside engineering, revealed that the updated floor design is increasing the car's downforce.

"During the past three races, we’ve conducted multiple comparisons of the different packages, mainly focusing on the floor. We are now confident that it is producing the expected load," Shovlin stated.

"How are we certain of that? We're assessing the forces created on the road via the suspension system. Additionally, we're examining the pressure distribution on the vehicle, which we can compare with data from wind tunnel tests. This correlation helps us determine if the car is performing as anticipated."

"It's crucial to understand that the increase we anticipated wasn't substantial; it was actually a modest package we implemented. However, we are certain that it is producing the expected results."

As the new floor increases the vehicle's load, a recurring topic in these regulations is the impact of additional downforce on a car's handling.

Ferrari encountered an issue with their upgrade in Spain, where increased "load" led to more bouncing in high-speed turns.

Shovlin admitted that Mercedes faces a tougher challenge with this question.

"The tougher question we must address is whether this package might have any nuanced handling traits that we haven't foreseen," he stated.

"Evaluating that is challenging since the car's performance varies by track. On certain tracks, it has performed excellently, while on others, we've had trouble with the car's balance, irrespective of its aerodynamic configuration. Indeed, the recent two races haven't been as successful as some of the earlier ones."

"It's possible that this is simply the usual differences we see between tracks, but we'll be examining that in the coming days. Additionally, we have other updates that we'll be implementing into the system."

"We have numerous factors to take into account, but we now possess a substantial amount of information, allowing us to spend the next few days analyzing and understanding it."

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