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Mercedes might just have pulled another rabbit out of their hat for the season. This is what the report from Italian publication Corriere Dello Sport revealed before the start of the all-important second pre-season test in Bahrain.
According to the report, the sidepods will be absent from their car after tests in the simulator showed a ‘monstrous’ upturn in performance. The report stated:
“It would be a car almost completely devoid of sides, the disappearance of which would have involved an imaginative but effective arrangement of the radiators, in the highest area of the bodywork.”
The heavily upgraded car will have a 'no-sidepods' philosophy, something that has never been attempted before. The change is rumored to give the team a significant and possibly unsurmountable advantage over the rest of the field.
The German team was expected to reveal a significant upgrade in Bahrain, but the extent and expectations of that upgrade were unclear. It now appears, however, that Mercedes did have an ace up its sleeve and this could be the sought-after innovation of the season.
While the sidepods could potentially cause headaches up and down the grid, there should still be concerns with the legality of the car as well. Interestingly, rumors of the upgrade have already reached some eminent paddock members with Mark Hughes, one of the eminent voices of F1, talking about it.
He took to Twitter, writing:
Expect the new Merc to be epic...that’s what the jungle drums are saying.
Whether this will be a game-changer for the 2022 season is hard to predict right now. What this does reveal, however, is that F1 teams can innovate to such great lengths even if they are extensively constrained by the regulations.
Throwbacks to Mercedes' 2014 season
Mercedes has truly had a positive relationship with the regulation changes. The last time F1 saw wholesale regulation changes in 2014, it was yet again the German giant who was able to make a long-lasting leap over the rest of the grid. The advantage it gained helped maintain that headstart for close to a decade.
Expecting these sidepods to do something like that would be premature. What this does reveal, however, is that Mercedes will surely be in the reckoning this season, if not the outright favorite to win the title.
