F1 News
Mercedes denies switch to Red Bull concept: 'Can we write off the season'
- GPblog.com
During the winter test, several analysts talked about low rake and high rake. According to some there would even be a high-rake at Mercedes, but that is not possible according to Andrew Shovlin.
Bad luck for Mercedes
With new regulations, it is always a matter of seeing how they work out for the different teams. It seems that the changes to the diffuser and the floor will mainly affect teams with a low rake, although opinions differ on this. The fact is that Mercedes has lost their lead over Red Bull Racing.
Red Bull Racing, like some other teams that opt for a high-rake, has lost time with the new regulations. While some experts thought Mercedes was playing with the rear of the car, Shovlin denies the team is planning to switch to high-rake.
No high-rake for Mercedes
''In terms of high or low rake, we can't change anything. We certainly can't suddenly raise the rear of our car 30 millimetres and work with that. That would mean writing off the season in advance. We'd lose too much time to make up for that,'' Shovlin told Motorsport.com.
''For the first time in my 24 years in this sport, we had to homologate the suspension because of COVID rules. You can only change it if you have used your tokens for the suspension. So even if we want to race at the rear with a ride height of 150 millimetres, we can't'', the Mercedes engineer concludes.