Ted Kravitz details Mercedes Spa upgrades which can halt McLaren surge

Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz took a look at what he describes as “actually quite a big upgrade” for the Mercedes W14 in Spa, one he feels could have McLaren sweating.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff revealed ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix race weekend that the next stage of developments for their W14 would arrive for this round, the final race before the summer break.

And Mercedes have indeed introduced alterations for their W14 at Spa, involving revised sidepods and cooling inlets, while a new low-drag rear wing is also in use.

Ted Kravitz talks us through Mercedes W14 upgrades

Ahead of a very soggy FP1 at Spa, George Russell’s W14 was on display in the pit lane, allowing Sky F1’s Kravitz to take a closer look at the changes and detail the intended benefits.

“They actually have quite a sizable upgrade here a Spa,” said Kravitz.

“Now, it’s worth remembering the technical journey of his Mercedes car. Started badly, had a big upgrade in Monaco and ever since then they’ve been adding bits and bobs to the car. A compromise because it wasn’t the initial way that they were going to have this car.

“The concept has changed, but given that, this is quite a big one.

“So first of all, sidepod air entries, which are enlarged, and what this means is that this improves airflow to the radiators, it also improves the airflow to the back of the car, and it allows them to use less of these louvres which get in the way of the airflow for a given cooling level. So it’s all about efficiency in these sidepods.

“So this whole sidepod design has to change, and it means this is much more dynamic, swoopy, easy for the air to get to the back of the car to generate downforce. So that’s quite a decent change.

“This floor also creates more efficient and productive vortices into the side and to be used by the floor where most of the downforce is generated.

“So all of this is about generating downforce, as you’d expect, but it’s also about decreasing drag. And this Mercedes has suffered from quite a lot of drag recently.”

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Ted Kravitz suspects Mercedes could leapfrog McLaren

In addition to these bodywork changes, Kravitz also drew attention to a new low-drag rear wing on the W14, run by Lewis Hamilton in FP1, and with all these alterations combined, Kravitz reckons Mercedes could be making the resurgent McLaren team very uncomfortable indeed.

After introducing a major upgrade package in Austria, followed by further refinements for Silverstone, McLaren surged to the head of the pack chasing runaway leaders Red Bull, clearing Mercedes, with Lando Norris scoring P2 finishes at Silverstone and the Hungaroring.

These Mercedes upgrades then, in Kravitz’s opinion, have the potential to put Mercedes back ahead of their customer team.

“The reason I’m going to Lewis’ car is because that’s where the low-drag, but more efficient rear wing is on,” Kravitz continued.

“So that is the new rear wing. It’s quite a big thing for Mercedes, because really that is where they’ve suffered from that less efficient rear wing in the past.

“So I’m looking at this guys and I’m thinking this is actually quite a big upgrade and I’m thinking that with the sidepods, with the rear wing and the floor, that’s the kind of thing that could lift Mercedes back ahead of McLaren in the competitive order.”

McLaren, currently P5 in theConstructors’ standings,还有主要地面上奔驰who are P2 and 136 points ahead.

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