Mercedes has launched the car Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will drive in this year’s Formula One world championship.
Named the W13, it has been designed to F1’s new technical regulations for 2022 as Mercedes attempts to push its winning streak of eight constructors’ championships to a ninth consecutive year.
After the launch in the morning, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton drove the car at a brief shakedown track session at Silverstone, as the circuit was being battered by heavy winds caused by Storm Eunice.
“We did pretty well during the last big regulatory change into the hybrid era [in 2014] and performed well when we went from the narrow to the wide cars in 2017,” team principal Toto Wolff said. “While we have a good track record, my message is clear: we can’t rely on past success for this year’s performance, but we can rely on our people, our culture, our structure, and our mindset to do the best possible job for 2022.”
The design of the car looks relatively basic in its launch specification, but is tightly packaged around the power unit. However, the W13 is expected to evolve significantly ahead of the first race in Bahrain on March 20.
“The aerodynamic changes are so big, they completely influence the packaging of the car and where you want to put certain components,” technical director Mike Elliott said. “Compared to last year, we’ve basically only carried over the steering wheel; otherwise, it’s all new, and that’s primarily a consequence of these new aerodynamic rules.
“The way the aerodynamic surfaces are defined in the regulations is also completely different: this year you are given a CAD surface and a tolerance to it. That means the designers must think differently and the process of making sure the geometry is legal is much harder.
“In the past we had lots of little details on the car that added up to quite a big chunk of aerodynamic performance, but now, the component detail isn’t anywhere near as complex. So, the gains you are making are in fundamental shape changes and bigger components than before.”
Despite the all-new car, one of the most striking changes from 2021 is a return to silver paintwork after two seasons of running a predominantly black livery to make a stand against racism and highlight a pledge within the team to increase diversity.
Silver is Mercedes’ traditional racing colour dating back to the pre-war victories the German car company achieved in the 1930s.
“The black livery was a clear intent and a clear demonstration of our mission to become a more diverse and inclusive team,” Wolff said. “It has become part of our DNA, but the silver colour of the Silver Arrows is as much our DNA, it’s our history.
“As a team we have grown from the Silver Arrows to slowly becoming a more diverse and inclusive team and therefore our colours going forward will be silver and black.
Increasing the diversity of our team isn’t about meeting a quota, it’s about recruiting the very best people regardless of ethnicity, gender, religion or sexual orientation. Our work inspiring people who might otherwise think a career in engineering, technology or motorsport isn’t for them will widen the talent pool we have available. A diverse workforce drives performance.”
The W13 is due to hit the track at Silverstone for the first time in a shakedown run on Friday morning.
The launch of the car was Hamilton’s first public appearance since he lost out on last year’s drivers’ title in controversial circumstances at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.