Mercedes to provide W13 with final 'aero developments' at US GP

Mercedes are planning to bring the final upgrade for the W13 to the US GP in Austin.

As said by the team's Technical Director Mike Elliot to the media during the Japanese GP race weekend, the upgrades are being introduced with a focus on learning for the 2023 car. Talking about the same, Elliot said:

“It's (Austin) our final step of aero development, and that will hopefully give us a bit more performance, but importantly with every step, we are learning more and more, and that learning we can carry into next year. Also, there is a few bits where we have taken some weight out of components that will hopefully get the car closer to the weight limit."

Elliot added that the qualifying performances of Mercedes have been a bit of a question mark. Lewis Hamilton was close to scoring pole at Singapore, but the race in Japan was a completely different story. He said:

"It's very difficult for us to predict where we are going to be. In Singapore, Lewis was awfully close to pole position, yet in Suzuka both cars had a big gap to the front."

He added:

Our race pace has been reasonably strong, so if we can make a step, hopefully we can get into the fight with the Ferraris and the Red Bulls. But qualifying for us is the really difficult one to predict at the moment. As I said, a lot of it is about learning, and we are certainly going to give it our best shot in the final four races.”

Mercedes (387) trail second-placed Ferrari (454) in the constructor standings with just four races to go.

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Mercedes reflect on poor showing in Suzuka

Mercedes did not have a great weekend in Suzuka: The car was leaking lap time on the straights, and Hamilton had to contend with a P5 finish behind Esteban Ocon's Alpine.

George Russell had a worse outing, as he was P8 behind the Alpine of Fernando Alonso and the Aston Martin of the retiring Sebastian Vettel. Andrew Shovlin, standing in for Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, surmised the weekend:

"It looked like the optimum would have been to follow the Safety Car in when we restarted which was surprising given the amount of water on the track. We'd called to bring both in together, and that cost us a bit of time in the stops for George with the stacking; he'd have joined a couple of places further up if we'd waited a lap, which would have given him a better chance of being part of the race that Lewis was having with Esteban."

He added:

"Saying that, Lewis was having a frustrating time trying to get through. He had good pace, and we'd opted for a high downforce level expecting rain, but he just couldn't find a way past due to the straight-line speed. So, plenty of things over the last two races that we can improve on, not least giving the drivers a better car in qualifying so we can hopefully start closer to the front."

Mercedes were in with a chance to fight for P2 in the championship after the summer break, but those hopes are now all but over.