Mercedes F1 suspension could bring a “strong” win in the last few races

Intrigue has surrounded the way Mercedes tuned its rear suspension so that the rear of the car falls down the straights at high speed.

This behavior helps reduce drag to increase top speed, and Red Bull believes it was a key part of the advantage Mercedes enjoyed in the recent Turkish Grand Prix.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Sky F1 in the USA last weekend that venues like Istanbul – with many medium-fast corners and long straights – are perfect for the Mercedes concept.

“I think Mercedes is obviously optimizing a no-nonsense device that they can do on this type of track,” Horner told Sky in Austin during FP1. “When you look at the rear of your car and how it lowers, I think [Turkey] played to their strengths. “

However, tuning the Mercedes system for venues like the Circuit of the Americas with higher speed corners is much more difficult because there is not enough variation between the highest cornering speeds and the straights.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images

However, Horner believes some venues that are on the calendar will be perfect for the Mercedes idea.

“It will have a bigger impact on some tracks than on others,” said Horner. “Here it was a reduced effect [in the United States] but somewhere like Jeddah, for example, it could be pretty powerful. “

While Red Bull is intrigued by what Mercedes has done with its suspension, the team understands that it doesn’t believe the design is against F1 regulations.

“We don’t think it’s illegal, no,” said Horner. “It’s something that has been used historically. We have seen how it has been used by them in the past.

“But what we saw in Turkey was obviously a pretty extreme version of it that seemed to allow this route.”

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Mercedes has downplayed the impact of its suspension system and believes that Red Bull is making too much of the impact it brings.

Team principal Toto Wolff said: “I think we absolutely know that this is a sport in which the competitors will always try to find out if there is some kind of silver bullet.

“My experience is that there is no such thing, it’s all the little wins, marginal gains that have been added and that perform.

“We try to really understand our car better and to improve the performance in the lap times without listening to the noise too much.”