"Even if we were lucky, the problem would not be off the table" - Mercedes does not want to 'shoot into the black and hope to score' with its porpoising problems

Mercedes are reportedly holding back on upgrades to fix porpoising before they can fully understand their problems.

As reported by Auto Motor und Sport (AMuS), the team is reportedly wary of the risks that come with blindly developing the car without fully understanding its behavior on the track. The report quotes an unnamed engineer within the team currently working on the W13, who states:

"We could shoot the bull's-eye and hope to hit. Even if we were lucky, the problem wouldn't be off the table. Because then you still don't get it. The next upgrade could backfire again.”

Following the introduction of cost caps and restrictions over wind tunnel testing, CFD developments, and more, teams have been forced to rethink their approach to upgrades.

In the past, teams, especially the well-funded ones such as Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull, would have thrown every available resource of theirs at exploring multiple developmental avenues in the hopes of finding solutions to their problems.

However, the new restrictions mean that all ten teams on the grid are only allowed to spend a limited number of resources per year, meaning each new upgrade will have to be thoroughly vetted before being produced and introduced.

Apart from wasting valuable resources, a failed upgrade will also have a knock-on effect in the developmental race. It would allow their rivals to get even further ahead if they manage to extract more performance from their own cars.

As such, several teams on the grid have taken a more data-driven approach to upgrades while focussing extensively on understanding their cars’ existing specs. Explaining the process, the Mercedes engineer said:

"First we have to fully understand the problem, then pour it into a mathematical model, then fix it. As painful as it is at the moment, we have to go through it.

“There isn't one faster way out, at least not one that we see. There's no point in correcting anything now if you don't know what that 'something' is supposed to look like. If you do that, you're making it worse instead of better."

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Rain didn’t solve Mercedes’ problems in Imola as expected: Wolff

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has revealed that the team were hoping that the changeable conditions during the Imola GP weekend would be favorable to them. However, the team was reportedly disappointed to find that wasn’t the case. Speaking to AMuS following the Imola GP, Wolff said:

"We thought it was less bad in the rain because the speeds aren't as high. In fact, it wasn't any better than on a dry road. It depends on a number of factors: downforce, speed, vehicle height, but also external influences such as wind, bumps, driving in traffic."

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Mercedes brought various minor upgrades to their car at Imola, hoping to mitigate some of the issues they have been facing since the start of the season. While they managed to find a bit of performance from these upgrades, they failed to fix the larger issues with the car.