F1 News
Mercedes makes a key decision: 'New' floor is removed
Before the Belgian Grand Prix, Mercedes introduced a new floor. However, it has become evident that this floor is not delivering the expected outcomes. Mercedes have now made the decision to stop using it. This weekend, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will drive with the same floor specification as they did in Baku.
Just before the summer break Mercedes introduced a new floor. In practice, however, it soon became apparent that the car was not performing as expected with this floor, so it was decided to use an old spec for Sunday's Grand Prix, with Hamilton winning the race. Nevertheless, Mercedes decided to experiment with this floor again at Zandvoort and Monza, but once again, it did not deliver.
New floor for Mercedes in Austin
For the Baku Grand Prix, Mercedes then used an 'old' floor. Hamilton and Russell continued to perform intermittently, yet it was decided not to change floors again in Singapore. For the US Grand Prix, which takes place in Austin in a month's time, Mercedes plans to use a new floor.
Toto Wolff, Mercedes' team boss, already made that known last week in Baku: "So in Singapore, we have the same one, that's what we shipped over. We need to race that. But from Austin onwards, we'll probably go to a newer spec," Wolff explained.
This article was written in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen.