Mercedes technical chief expects some teams to get the 2022 rules “badly wrong”

Mercedes F1 technical director James Allison expects at least one team to get the 2022 regulations “badly wrong” and arrive at the start of the season with a car that is off the pace. The British designer believes the sweeping nature of the new aerodynamic regulations makes it easier for teams to head in the wrong developmental direction.

Speaking of the efforts his team has put in to develop their 2022 challenger in a video posted on Mercedes’ official social handles, Allison said:

“I would imagine, given that the cars are so new and so different, that one or two cars on the grid will have got it really badly wrong. And they will have a terribly painful year. I would imagine that all of us to some degree will have left things on the table that we just didn't anticipate. And we will look at other cars and think, ‘oh, why didn't we think of that?’”

He then went on to add:

“Then we’ll be scrambling around to try to get that idea onto our car as fast as possible, so that we can claw our way, from whatever position we land in that first race, forwards. Or, if we’re lucky enough to be in front, to keep the attacking wolves behind us.”

Allison says Mercedes has done everything they can to find the best possible approach and design to match the new regulations. He is, however, unsure whether their efforts are enough to deliver the results they desire.

The new regulations are radically different in comparison to the previous “formula” and were specifically designed to force teams to develop cars that generate less aerodynamic wake, and therefore, are more suitable for wheel-to-wheel racing.

Meanwhile, the new cars were originally predicted to be at least 6-7 seconds slower than last year’s cars. Early indications from the teams and Pirelli, however, suggest they might be on par with the outgoing generation. This has led to speculation that the new cars might not lead to better racing as originally predicted.

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Mercedes “extracting as much as they can” from “enormous” new technical regulations: Allison

James Allison has revealed that the new technical regulations “dwarf” any of the rule sets previously introduced in the sport. He also said that Mercedes has been hard at work trying to extract as much performance from “every nook and cranny” within the regulations ahead of the 2022 season.

Speaking in the aforementioned video, Allison said:

“We’ve been buried in them for so long, that it’s easy to forget sometimes just what a massive set of regulation changes these 2022 rules represent. I’ve been working in the sport for over 30 years, and they dwarf anything else I’ve ever seen.”

Allison further revealed that the new regulations do not resemble anything that came before them, and the team, therefore, was to entirely rethink their approach to designing their car.