F1 News
Hamilton's crash reveals Mercedes floor: 'We can learn a lot from it'
Following Lewis Hamilton's crash in the final free practice, the 'new' W14 was hoisted into the air. This brought the new floor on the Mercedes into view. Williams team boss James Vowles argues that his team can learn a lot from this footage.
Mercedes has brought a huge number of upgrades to Monaco. In doing so, the German constructor is forgoing the 'zeropods'. One of the upgrades is a brand new floor. The floor is incredibly important for the performance of the current generation of cars. The underside of the floor is something teams therefore like to keep secret, but Mercedes has failed to do so.
Vowles sees Mercedes floor
Hamilton's crash made the brand new floor under the W14 already visible, Vowles also noticed. "We can learn a lot from it. There is always a lot of talk about the parts of the car you can see, but the real secrets are underneath the car," the Williams team boss told ServusTV.
"It is rare that a car is lifted and you can see the underside. You can't learn anything immediately from it, but you can see what the team is doing with the airflow under the car. We will analyse that at the factory and try to understand how the approach differs from ours."