Mercedes: Flashes of F1 form are “annoying” trait of W13 – Motorsport AU

The team has been struggling all season to fully understand the car built to F1’s latest regulations. Occasional signs of promise have encouraged it to stick with the narrow sidepod concept, while others have been gravitating in a common direction.
George Russell’s pole in Hungary followed by a second consecutive two-three finish for Lewis Hamilton and his younger teammate in the race have led the team to believe that it is starting to understand the car.
“It is useful,” said Shovlin. “And this car has been particularly annoying in the way it gives you glimpses of performance and what might be, to a level that it’s very difficult for us just to give up on it. So it sucks you in a bit, from an engineering point of view.
“It has been a tricky car. And certainly some of the issue is just that we haven’t got enough downforce, we need to find more downforce, and find a bit more power. But overall it is a useful sign that we’re going in the right direction.
“The double podium, the pole position, they’re all things that we could have only dreamed of earlier in the year. And that’s encouraging, that we do seem to be making progress.”
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W13
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Shovlin made it clear that the team doesn’t intend to move away from its current aero package.
“I think it has been useful to see that this narrow bodywork car can perform well, in races,” he said. 
“This is certainly the thing for us to take as a foundation for development. We will be more effective if we work with what we’ve got than try and hop to someone else’s design.
“But the sidepods are probably a bit of a distraction from the overall issues that we’ve had to fix. If you think it’s only three races ago we were bouncing around all over the place in Montreal, Baku, Monaco.
“Now the drivers are getting out and if they talk about bouncing, it’s because they had a little bit of it in one corner at one point. It’s almost notable by its absence. And we’ve been able to apply those improvements to the current package, which is a good sign.”
Shovlin admitted that the team didn’t know if Russell’s Budapest pole reflected a genuine upturn in form, or was more related to Ferrari and Red Bull not performing at their best. However, there was one clear improvement in the Mercedes camp.
“One of the things that changed was the drivers suddenly found the confidence in the car that they were lacking. So previously in qualifying they always said as soon as you really lean on the rear, it just doesn’t give you the feeling that it’s going to stick, it just feels like it’s going to go away from you.
“We haven’t really seen our two putting in those sort of blinding laps until George got it on pole. And that might be something that we’ve improved. And there are some changes on the car that may have done that.
“The team did a good job of getting everything in the in the right window. But the honest answer is we don’t really know how we got pole.”
Shovlin said that knowledge gained in Hungary could carry over to the upcoming races such as Spa and Monza, even if the tracks are very different.
“To be honest, that’s the general process of engineering an F1 car is that every race, we’re learning, and at the end of the year, we sort of tend to write it all down in one place. And it’s impressive that even after 20 races, you’re still finding out things.
“So I’m sure that there’ll be bits that we can take. But if you look at it, statistically, are we going to suddenly be landing it in that window at every track, that might be a tall order.”
Aston Martin starting “too far to the back” to score strong F1 results
Hamilton hopes Vettel showed F1 is “about something far bigger”
Aston Martin starting “too far to the back” to score strong F1 results
Alpine confident it will beat Aston Martin while Alonso is there
The highs and lows of F1’s latest supersub Hulkenberg
Verstappen condemns “disgusting” burning of Mercedes merchandise by fans
Hamilton: “Huge” for Mercedes F1 to beat both Ferraris in Hungary
What to expect from Mercedes as F1 returns to Silverstone
Hamilton hopes Vettel showed F1 is “about something far bigger”
Lewis Hamilton hopes Sebastian Vettel’s efforts to highlight issues outside of Formula 1 will set an example to young drivers to use their platform for “something far, far bigger.”
Mercedes: Flashes of F1 form are “annoying” trait of W13
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin admits that the W13 has an “annoying” characteristic of showing glimpses of real potential in Formula 1.
Aston Martin starting “too far to the back” to score strong F1 results
Aston Martin Formula 1 team principal Mike Krack admits that the Silverstone outfit has to address its qualifying issues to be able to score more the occasional point.
Las Vegas GP date leaked, F1 race could pair with Abu Dhabi
The inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix night race has a preliminary race date of November 16-18 next year that could form a glitzy season-ending back-to-back with Abu Dhabi.
The other McLaren exile hoping to follow Perez’s path to a top F1 seat
After being ditched by McLaren earlier in his F1 career Sergio Perez fought his way back into a seat with a leading team. BEN EDWARDS thinks the same could be happening to another member of the current grid
How studying Schumacher helped make Coulthard a McLaren F1 mainstay
Winner of 13 grands prix including Monaco and survivor of a life-changing plane crash, David Coulthard could be forgiven for having eased into a quiet retirement – but, as MARK GALLAGHER explains, in fact he’s busier than ever, running an award-winning media company and championing diversity in motor racing. Not bad for someone who, by his own admission, wasn’t quite the fastest driver of his generation…
Could F1 move to a future beyond carbon fibre?
Formula 1 has ambitious goals for improving its carbon footprint, but could this include banishing its favoured composite material? Pat Symonds considers the alternatives to carbon fibre and what use, if any, those materials have in a Formula 1 setting
The traits that fuelled Alonso’s unexpected Aston Martin F1 move
Fernando Alonso’s bombshell switch to Aston Martin sent shockwaves through Formula 1, not least at Alpine that finds itself tangled in a contract standoff with Oscar Piastri. Not shy of a bold career move and with a CV punctuated by them, there were numerous hints that trouble was brewing.
The elements Ferrari must resolve to first save face, then win championships
OPINION: Ferrari’s Formula 1 title hopes look all but over after another strategic blunder in last week’s Hungarian Grand Prix denied Charles Leclerc the chance to fight for victory, while handing it to chief rival Max Verstappen. The Scuderia now faces intense scrutiny over what it must now do to finally become a genuine factor in championship battles
The clues about Hamilton’s F1 retirement plans after Vettel decision
OPINION: Sebastian Vettel is set to leave Formula 1 at the end of 2022 and will, rather shockingly, be replaced by Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin. But what about the final chapter of the other driver that defined the post-Michael Schumacher era? In Hungary, Lewis Hamilton spoke about his future in the context of Vettel’s upcoming departure, which offered clues on how long it will last.
Why all signs point to F1’s Monaco special relationship continuing
OPINION: With more potential venues than there are slots in future calendars, rumours have been circulating that the Monaco Grand Prix could be a casualty of F1’s expansion into new markets. But Mark Gallagher thinks this is highly unlikely.
Hungarian Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2022
The Hungarian Grand Prix race result, after a dry race held without safety car conditions, bore little resemblance to what was anticipated after qualifying. While certain drivers were nullified by some iffy strategy calls, others shone to grasp opportunities afforded to them in the last F1 race before the summer break

source