The groundbreaking Mercedes W13 without pontoons? that has Formula 1 on a war footing

There was a rumor in Barcelona that Mercedes He had played the first tests with a car that was not the definitive one and that would hardly resemble the one they will use in the championship and the worst omens were confirmed. The W13, a car that the British will drive Lewis Hamilton and George Russel, underwent a key modification in the so-called ‘lateral pontoons’ -responsible for cooling the car and stabilizing the air that enters the car- and that would mean a differential advantage for the championship that would be around second per lap.

This disappearance or reduction to the maximum of the side pontoons is undoubtedly due to an imaginative, but effective arrangement of the radiators in the highest part of the bodywork, to which the less impressive performance in the simulator is attributed. And unsurprisingly, this mod has members of every other team worried and outraged in equal measure.

So much so that Red Bullhas been the first to raise his voice, although he later qualified the words of the team manager, Christian Horner.

Shortly after, the Austrian team rectified these statements to the German newspaper ‘Auto Motor Und Sport’ with a subsequent statement, in which they assure that they will not speak more about this issue in the future. It is expected, yes, that they file a claim with the FIA ​​to find out about the legality of the new car.

The team that has dominated Formula 1 in this hybrid era with an iron fist, winning all eight constructors’ championships and seven of the eight drivers’ championships, was content to joke on Twitter about the aerodynamic update on the car.