Copying the bodywork of Red Bull is not enough
He ‘B-version‘ of the Mercedes W14, which will be equipped with a new suspension, new underbody and bodywork with bellies that are expected to resemble those of the Red Bull that already inspired Aston Martin, Williams and McLaren in 2022 with Alfa Romeo following in turn this concept of the ‘beaten’ bellies in the rear area in the creation of the C43 on the track in this 2023 and expects to show off important novelties that were already planned for Imola as in the case of Mercedes.
Ferrari will also have updates, not substantial like those introduced by Mercedes. Scuderia di Maranello is expected to bring a more substantial Mercedes-style package to Barcelona the following week. Those carried out by Mercedes and Ferrari are necessary experiments to launch the 2024 projects. In Brackley they seem convinced that the ‘zero bellies’ concept launched in 2022 and confirmed in 2023 has no future, in Maranello, on the other hand, not yet. The decision to ‘repudiate’ a design philosophy that has great potential from which it is not easy, however, to extract it 100% has been fully adopted.
Aston Martin made a significant leap in terms of performance between 2022 and 2023 and Kevin Magnussen recently stressed that Haas should aim to follow in the footsteps of Lawrence Stroll’s stable in terms of performance gains. Gunther Steiner stressed that obviously the Haas technicians are working to try to improve the performance of the VF-23, but there is Inescapable ‘bets’ that prevent a 100% embrace of the Red Bull philosophywhose result in hand seems for all intents and purposes the winner in this era of ground effect that began a year ago.
“We are testing different concepts, but you cannot fully jump into what Red Bull does. – Steiner’s words reported by the newspaper. motoring – Following the Red Bull bodywork, which you can copy because you can see it, doesn’t mean going faster, because there’s a lot to do to make it work. With Ferrari suspension, some things can’t be done. Now we’re just trying to blow the air in different directions to see what works and what doesn’t. So maybe from next year we’ll go the Red Bull route, but we’ll have to be 100% sure, because for that kind of bodywork to work, you need a new chassis and a new suspension. It’s not that easy.”
