SO WILL THESE NEW FORMULA 1 regulations deliver what they’re supposed to and improve the ability of grand prix cars to actually race each other in 2022? “Good question,” says Mike Elliott, the man charged by Mercedes-AMG to lead its technical team towards a target of a record-extending ninth straight constructors’ title, while also powering Lewis Hamilton to what he missed by a race director’s whimsy last term: a record eighth drivers’ crown. “My gut feeling is the regulations will improve the racing,” says the technical director (right). “Aerodynamically, there will be some benefits, but I don’t think they will be as big as we hope for. There may be some signs in the [new 18-inch Pirelli] tyres that they will also help with the racing. We just need to wait and see.”
We will, because Elliott doesn’t know for sure. No one does, in the wake of the biggest F1 chassis rules reset that he or just about anyone can remember. ‘We just don’t know’ has been a running theme this pre-season. Testing will give some clue, but the teams, drivers and the rest of us will only know the true shape of F1 when the lights go out on the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 20.
For Mercedes, motivation won’t be lacking in the wake of how last term concluded. “The end of the season was disappointing,” says Elliott. “From my personal point of view, I’d love to have seen Lewis win that eighth championship. For me it would have meant more than winning the constructors’.” That speaks volumes about this team’s dedicationin the big chair following his accession early last year when James Allison was promoted to a new management role of chief technical officer. “It was stressful last year, but it was also highly enjoyable,” says Elliott, before adding that perhaps the second bit was mostly in hindsight... “I spoke to Shov [Andrew Shovlin, trackside engineering director] at the end of the season and he said he’d really enjoyed the last few races, just because it was an opportunity to be tested and see how you coped under that pressure. From my point of view, the team coped really well. It was good to see, as is how we’ve reacted to what happened at the end of the season, how we’ve pulled together and got on with developing this year’s car. That’s really pleasing for me.”
