The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team has launched its challenger for the 2022 season – the Mercedes-AMG F1 W13 E Performance. With the sport’s most significant technical regulation change in a generation, the factories at Brackley and Brixworth have been bristling with activity to respond to the challenge and identify every possible opportunity to unlock performance.

After 18 months of hard work, the end result is the W13, a car which is 98 per cent new and freshly designed with minimal carry-over from its predecessor. Behind the wheel of the W13 for the 2022 season will be a new driver partnership of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, who graduates from the Mercedes Young Driver Programme to step up to the eight-time world champion Mercedes-AMG works team.

“Ever since work on W13 began, I have seen an excited enthusiasm in our team members like never before, thanks to the scale of opportunity that these technical regulations provide,” said Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team. “Towards the end of the year when the car build project truly came together, I felt a deep passion across the whole organisation, not only in the technical arena but across our bases at Brackley and Brixworth who were embracing a mindset of 'we can do this'”.

“We did pretty well during the last big regulatory change into the hybrid era and performed well when we went from the narrow to the wide cars in 2017. While we have a good track record, my message is clear: we can't rely on past success for this year's performance, but we can rely on our people, our culture, our structure, and our mindset to do the best possible job for 2022”, continued Toto.

The team’s 2022 challenger will be named the ‘Mercedes-AMG F1 W13 E Performance’, with W13 representing the 13th car produced by the Mercedes-AMG works team since re-entering F1 in 2010. The ‘E Performance’ technology label signifies the continued close collaboration between the team and Mercedes-AMG, with the label featuring on all new AMG performance hybrid cars.

The technical regulation changes for 2022, whose introduction was delayed by a year as F1 negotiated the COVID-19 pandemic, represent a fundamental shift in design rules and one of the biggest regulatory changes the sport has ever seen.

“On the chassis side, the changes are huge,” said Mike Elliott, the team’s Technical Director. “We haven’t had a change as big as this one in my career. I think there are three aspects to this: first, the way the regulations are constructed is very different, particularly for aerodynamics, and that has a big impact. Second, what they are trying to achieve with the aerodynamics means the cars are fundamentally a different shape. Third, this is the first time we will have attempted such a big change under a cost cap.”

One striking difference on the 2022 cars will be new 18-inch wheels, replacing the previous 13-inch rims. Their impact on racing remains to be seen but the early signs are positive.

“What we have seen in testing, particularly the Abu Dhabi test at the end of 2021, is that there are subtle differences. It is going to change what we want to do with set-up, but it is a step in the right direction as I think the tyre will help improve the racing, won’t overheat as much and will be easier to manage,” noted Elliott.

Another crucial element the engineers have had to contend with in the development of the 2022 car is the freezing of certain components which are now locked in for several years, including the gearbox and power unit. The stakes for getting both components as strong as can be, while maintaining reliability, have rarely been higher.

The 2022 power unit builds upon the generation of championship-winning PUs produced by the team at Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP) since 2014 and while the PU regulation changes for 2022 haven’t been as significant or noticeable as the wholesale chassis changes, the challenge has been no less formidable.

A brand-new chassis, combined with an upgraded and repackaged PU, will change how the car behaves on track in the hands of the drivers. Learning and development through the season will be crucial.

New driver pairing Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.New driver pairing Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

At the wheel of the W13 will be the sport’s most successful driver, seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, partnered by fellow Briton and Mercedes Young Driver Programme graduate George Russell, making his debut for the Mercedes-AMG team in his fourth year in F1.

Lewis Hamilton enters the 2022 season with 103 wins, 103 pole positions and 182 podiums as he targets a record eighth World Drivers’ Championship.

“I have never seen him more determined,” said Toto Wolff. “Lewis is the best driver in the world, and he is joined by one of the brightest and most promising of their generation in George. I have no doubt that we can create an environment of partnership between the two, of productivity to develop this new car which will be essential, whilst maintaining a healthy competition that will motivate them and the wider team.”

George Russell joined the Mercedes Young Driver Programme at the start of 2017, following an impressive record in the junior categories, becoming GP3 champion the same year. Over the winter, he has been a regular at the team’s Brackley base, getting reacquainted with some familiar faces.

The team benefits from a strong reserve driver line-up with reigning Formula E World Champion, Nyck De Vries, continuing to join his Mercedes-EQ Formula E teammate, Stoffel Vandoorne, on the team’s support roster.

With the move to a black livery at the start of the 2020 F1 season, the team made a visible commitment to promoting greater diversity and inclusion within our team and our sport. A considerable amount of study, research and work was subsequently undertaken, culminating later that year in the launch of Accelerate 25: a detailed five-year programme to become a more diverse and inclusive team.

“The black livery was a clear intent and a clear demonstration of our mission to become a more diverse and inclusive team. It has become part of our DNA, but the silver colour of the Silver Arrows is as much our DNA, it's our history. As a team we have grown from the Silver Arrows to slowly becoming a more diverse and inclusive team and therefore our colours going forward will be silver and black,” said Wolff.

For more racing news visit timesmotors.com

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