Mercedes: You don't win races and championships by copying Red Bull or Ferrari's designs

Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes trackside engineering director, disclosed that the team wanted to learn and understand the concept of their side pod design and did not copy any of the teams to perform better in races. He stated that most of the aerodynamic work on the cars was on the floor, which was a little hard to work on, and that they had to commit to the side pod design 'realistically.'

Motorsport quoted him as saying:

"The goal for us though was always to try and understand it ourselves and learn and find our own path, because if you want to win, and you want to win races and world championships, you don't get there by copying everyone else's design."

The 2022 regulations have almost completely remapped the aerodynamics of all F1 cars. All teams tried their best to perfect their designs, and there were unique side pod designs from both Ferrari and Red Bull. Mercedes, however, came in with their 'zero pods' design.

While it was different from almost all of the teams on the grid, the W13 didn't seem to perform on the grid throughout the season. The team managed to win only a single race in Brazil and it turned out to be one of their worst seasons in the last eight years.

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Shovlin believes straight-line speed wasn't important for Mercedes

While Mercedes has been fast on the straights throughout the years, Andrew Shovlin revealed that the team wasn't focused on doing that this particular season. That was an important factor for the team, however, because earlier into the season when they were suffering from porpoising at high speeds, it was hard for them to compete with other cars. Once the team recovered from the issue, however, they did not particularly pay attention to it.

Speaking about the race in Brazil, Shovlin revealed that even though Mercedes were not the fastest on the track that day, they managed to deliver a 1 - 2 finish. He stated that having the fastest car on straight lines does not ensure the success of the team while referring to Williams. He said:

“But if you look at Brazil, we didn't have the fastest car, but we could overtake them and we were able to get the 1-2. So making it quick in a straight line is not our highest priority. And one of the fastest in a straight line is the Williams. So it doesn't define your performance level."

At the end of the season, Lewis Hamilton had zero wins, for the first time in his Formula 1 career. Meanwhile, George Russell won the race at Sāo Paulo making it the only victory for the team this year.