F1: Mercedes F1 boss hints at changes for 2023 car

Speaking about next year’s Mercedes W14 car, “It’s full of surprises,” Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff told media during the Abu Dhabi weekend.

“The last time I saw it I thought ‘oh this looks the same as the W13’ but here’s hoping it’s not the same.”

“I’m pretty much like you, I go into the wind tunnel, and it looks like this year’s car (i.e. small sidepods, coined zeropods), but they say to me, it’s very different underneath.

“It’s about the airflow, it’s about the weight distribution, it’s about the aero map.

“Our car fundamentally changed mid-year. We changed the concept, but you couldn’t see anything on the bodywork.”

Max Verstappen in the RB-18. Whereas the Red Bull sidepod creates in effect a double floor with air flowing over and under it that affords designers more options to generate downforce, the Mercedes zeropod design is strictly to reduce drag.
The sidepod on the #16 Ferrari of Charles Leclerc looks traditional, but the top side was revolutionary. Photo courtesy of Ferrari F1
The Ferrari F1-75 had unique sidepods never seen before