…AND THE BACK OF THE TROUBLESOME W13
Mercedes also introduced a new lower-drag rear wing and beam wing, aiming to further improve its performance on the straights, after apparently being set back by a draggy W13 in the opening rounds. This was decked out in a particularly colourful scheme as teams leaned into the bright blue-and-pink hues associated with Miami.
The wing featured a more straight-edge mainplane to cut back on any superfluous downforce, while the upper wing element could lean at a lower angle of attack compared to the higher-downforce variant.
The beam wing featured shorter-chord wing elements to further facilitate the cutback in drag and downforce, as Mercedes’ circuit simulations showed that the team could afford to lose some on the high-speed layout. The team kept the lower-downforce parts on beyond practice, having hinted at good pace early on in the weekend when George Russell headed FP2. The Brit dropped out in Q2 but Lewis Hamilton made it onto sixth on the grid.
Although the updates cemented Mercedes’ current place as best of the rest – Russell recovered to fifth ahead of Hamilton – the team still has a way to go to get on terms with Red Bull and Ferrari.