“No secret” F1 floor rule changes designed to ‘peg back’ Mercedes - Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton says it is🐽 “no secret” that Formula 1’s new aerodynamic rules were introduced to try and rein in Mercedes’ advantage over the rest of the field.
Teams have been required to carry-over a significant portion of their 2020 cars into this season as part of a major cost-saving exercise, but ﷽changes were made to the rear of the floor in a bid to reduce downforce levels and slow the cars down.
Mercedes has dominated the V6 hybrid era by winning seven world championship doubles in a row but Hamilton was beaten to pole position by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix by almost four-te𓂃nths of a second.
It came off the back of Mercedes’ struggles in pre-season testing and amid the suggestion that its lower-rake concept has been hit harder by the floor changes compared to the high-rake ap☂proach taken by Red Bull.
On Friday, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff conceded that the team’s analysis had shown that to be the case and said it was 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:“physically not possible” for the Brackley♒-based outfit to make its W12 a high-rake car this season.
Asked whetheꦿr he felt the rule changes had been introduced specifically to influence the pecki🅠ng order, Hamilton replied: “I mean it’s no secret that the changes, of course they’ve been done to peg us back.
“We h🎃ad the changes of course last year🌠 to our engine to do the same thing.
“But that's OK, we love a challenge and we don't look down on theseꦏ things, we just work h🐻ard to do the best we can. And that's what we'll do.”
Hamilton’s Mercedes ▨teammate Valtteri Bottas said heౠ had “no answer” when pressed for a response on the matter.
“I like aero stuff, I’m a bi�𝔉�t of a geek in some ways, like aerodynamics, I’m really interested but I don’t know the facts, how exactly what’s the aero philosophy of the Red Bull,” the Finn added.
"Yes, it’s higher rake, but how much that’s going t🌄o affect with the new regulations I don’t know. I think they’ve really got a strong package overall, the power unit, the cha༒ssis, the aero are good.
“They di▨d a good job over the winter, so we need to do a better job.”
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for wuqian0821.com around the world. Often reporti♕ng on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stꦑories of the people who matter in the sport.
