MERCEDES’ SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF
The latest fusillade in the war of words between Red Bull and Mercedes ended in a whimper as the FIA found no evidence of a trick ‘device’ on the W12’s rear suspension. Red Bull initially raised the issue with the governing body during the Turkish Grand Prix weekend, where it was observed that the W12s of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were squatting at the rear while running at speed.
As well as lodging a request for a ‘clarification’ of the supposed device, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner verbalised the claims via Sky Sports F1, provoking a whirlwind of excitement. But the FIA’S investigations into the matter revealed that not only was Mercedes’ rear suspension compliant with the rules, it had not changed since 2020.
Lowering the rear ride height at speed can give a powerful advantage since it can cause the diffuser to stall, theoretically reducing drag. Certainly in Turkey Mercedes seemed to have developed a straightline speed advantage which had been lacking in recent races. But any device which actively drops the rear ride height would be illegal, since it would fall under the remit of a moveable aerodynamic device.
GP Racing understands the Mercedes rear suspension geometry is designed in such a way that the ‘third spring’, which manages vertical movement of the chassis, offers less resistance once it passes a certain load threshold. Since this system has to be entirely passive to comply with the rules, the trick is in the tuning – applying enough downforce load via the aerodynamic devices to pass that threshold. That process has been complicated this year by new rules cutting off part of the floor area and it has taken Mercedes time to claw back via aerodynamic updates added to the W12 throughout the year.
It’s probably that Turkey was an outlier in that the track accentuated the W12’s behaviour, an impression bolstered during the US GP weekend when the Mercedes looked slower in a straight line. This, together with the findings of the FIA probe, was enough to persuade Red Bull to drop the matter.
“There were obviously some straight-line speeds that were quite eyewatering,” said team principal Christian Horner. “With further analysis we were able to understand how they were achieving that at that type of circuit.”
“We’re trying to really comprehend our car better and add performance in lap time,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, “without listening too much to the noise.”
20
“WE’RE TRYING TO REALLY COMPREHEND OUR CAR BETTER AND ADD PERFORMANCE IN LAP TIME WITHOUT LISTENING TOO MUCH TO THE NOISE TOTO WOLFF