Toto Wolff believes Mercedes “misjudged” the full impact of 2021 floor regulations

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has revealed that the team “misjudged” the ramifications of the 2021 floor regulations until it was too late. The Austrian said the team were confident they could handle the changes until they realized how far back they were in the first few rounds of last season.

Speaking in a post-season interview with Auto Motor und Sport, Wolff said:

“We thought we could handle the cut in the ground in front of the rear wheels. With the lead we had in 2020, we thought we could compensate for that. We saw it as a kind of challenge. That was a misjudgement. During the test drives, we noticed how much behind we got. I guess that cost us a second.”

While the 2021 cars were effectively carryovers from the previous season, the FIA introduced a series of regulations designed to cut rear downforce from the car.

This was done in an effort to aid the aging Pirelli tires cope with the increased downforce resulting from the continued development. Due to various factors, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and the teams rejecting the 2020 spec tires, Pirelli was still supplying teams with tires originally designed for the 2019 season.

Ahead of the 2021 season, the Italian manufacturer was worried of tires failing, and therefore petitioned the FIA for downforce cuts.

The new regulations, which cut away a huge section of the floorboards, however, affected teams across the grid disproportionately. Teams that ran low-rake cars, particularly Mercedes and Aston Martin/Racing Point, were severely affected, while teams that ran high-rake cars, such as Red Bull, were least affected by the regulation.

In pre-season testing in Bahrain, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas struggled with rear-end grip on their W12’s. Ahead of the season opener at the same venue a few weeks later, the Brackley-based squad managed to find some fixes. Yet, the team were considerably slower compared to their own pace from the previous season.

Throughout the first half of the season, the team were severely limited in terms of car setups and had a few disappointing races, especially on street circuits. After a few months of intensive development, the team finally brought a huge upgrade at Silverstone, ahead of the British Grand Prix, that finally gave them the upper hand.

---

James Allison praises Mercedes culture that “welcomes new opportunities”

Mercedes technical chief James Allison has praised the team’s culture, saying that it is always open to new opportunities, and treats them with “excitement and pleasure”.

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:

“This team (Mercedes) does have a culture that treats such opportunity with excitement and pleasure. And a chance to demonstrate to ourselves that we hopefully are not bad at doing racing cars and putting my fans hat on and trying to anticipate what we can expect when the racing starts. The validation of knowing that you can pick up a set of regulations like this and work with them. When that’s realized that is it’s a brilliant feeling. You get way more payback, from feeling like you’ve done a good job.”

After losing the driver’s title to Red Bull for the first time in eight years, Mercedes is hopeful of having done enough to remain at the front of the grid in 2022. The Brackley-based outfit are rearing to once again mount an offense to deliver Lewis Hamilton a record-breaking eighth world title.