"We'll go and have a think about that" - Mercedes claims Red Bull's sidepods look 'interesting'

Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott has admitted that his team is intrigued by the Red Bull F1 team’s sidepod design on the RB18. The Milton Keynes-based squad unveiled their actual machine on the first day of the pre-season test, making their car the ultimate head-turner of the event.

Elliott commented on the Red Bull F1 team's car design in a video on F1’s official YouTube channel and said:

“The most visually different I think are the sidepods that Red Bull Racing have come up with. Looks interesting, so we’ll go and have a think about that.”

The radical undercuts and symmetrical design of the rear of the Red Bull car fascinated many in the paddock. The Milton Keynes-based team was also seen experimenting with different parts on it. Meanwhile, the Brackley-based outfit's fascination with their 2021 arch-rivals could result in them trying to emulate some of Red Bull’s aerodynamic wizardry in their car.

Compared to the Mercedes W13 which was not exactly a head-turner, the RB18 looked like a masterpiece crafted with a lot of thought put into every intricate detail of its design. The Silver Arrows' car was launched without any cooling gills on its sidepods. The team was, however, rumored to be considering reviewing their cooling system design and were seen experimenting with various gill configurations on their car.

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Mercedes claim resolving porpoising issue is priority

Silver Arrows technical director Mike Elliott revealed that the porpoising problem with the new F1 cars is a concern across the grid. While Ferrari and McLaren have resolved the issue, the Brackley squad plans to simulate the data before the Bahrain test to find a solution to porpoising.

Speaking about the unique issue, Elliott said:

“It’s a problem we’re all facing. The reality is we’ve just got to learn as quickly as we can. We’re doing as much testing as we can here [in Barcelona], and we’ll do a lot of simulation work back at the factory. It will be about how we either solve that, or how we deal with it and mitigate it in the first races.”

Porpoising is an issue many drivers and teams have complained about over the course of the three-day test in Barcelona. The Mercedes team, however, also suffered from balance issues which compromised its run on the first two days of the test.