"Your car is rarely the same one week to the next" - Mercedes describes the changes it saw from testing to racing in Barcelona

Mercedes' data from the 2022 F1 Spanish GP was considerably different from their initial run in Barcelona during pre-season testing, according to the team's chief strategist James Vowles.

Mercedes brought four upgrades to the W13 and appear to have tamed their porpoising issue to an extent as a result. They, however, are still trailing the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull in terms of pace and aerodynamic efficiency.

Ultimately, the Silver Arrows got on the podium through George Russell, with Lewis Hamilton finishing in P5 after a solid recovery drive from last place.

Speaking about the difference in data with regards to porpoising in a post-race debrief video, Vowles said:

“I’ll try and break down the different elements of those [changes]. The first is temperatures. We were seeing 36-37 degrees ambient during the race weekend. The track was somewhere in the mid-40s. During the test it is more typical to see 16 degrees ambient, maybe 17, and the track more typically around about low 20s, 22, 25 and that creates quite a substantial difference on how the tyres are performing. Generally, you go quicker in the cooler conditions.”

The Mercedes man then elaborated on their tire usage data, saying:

“One, the tyres are in a slightly better window but also, when you have cool temperatures the air is dense so the power is slightly higher as a result and you generate slightly more downforce. But the other difference is that during the test for example we used the C5 compound – the softest compound of the Pirelli range. During the race weekend that was a C3, so you’ve got two steps of compound there as well for most of the cars on what they were doing. The difference also is that during the test you have very little of these compounds available to you. You are not doing a full qualifying programme, you are perhaps just doing one or two fast laps and during the race weekend again you have a qualifying session where you have sufficient amounts of tyres.”

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Mercedes continuously learning from their experiences in 2022 F1 season

Mercedes' chief strategist James Vowles also admitted that the team was undergoing a continuous learning process during their development of the W13.

In the aforementioned debrief video after the 2022 F1 Spanish GP, the British engineer said:

“Ours visually was just a completely different car, the bodywork had changes, we had updated the car for Bahrain but that applies for our competitors as well, for the most part everyone has been evolving and changing their cars and that’s one of the beauties of Formula 1 – your car is rarely the same one week to the next.”

Vowels concluded by saying:

“You are continuously updating it, changing it, learning from the experiences that you have gathered across the previous race weekend and as a result of that, what you learned in February is going to be very different to the car that you are racing in May.”

Mercedes will be hoping to continue on their upward trajectory at the 2022 F1 Monaco GP later this weekend.