"The bouncing was just dominating everything"- Mercedes compares its 2022 F1 season problems to an onion

Mercedes have undeniably had a rocky season so far in 2022, having struggled immensely with porpoising that cost them significant points at the start of the year. Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott claims that despite the progress made by the team with upgrades brought in all season, the woes for the Silver Arrows simply never ended.

Speaking to select members of the media, including Sportskeeda, ahead of the 2022 F1 Japanese GP, Elliot described Mercedes' struggles to an onion. He emphasized that every time the team managed to tackle an issue, a couple others arose. He said:

“The issues we’ve built into the car we couldn’t see because of the bouncing. The bouncing was just dominating everything. And once we’d got on top of that in Barcelona – we got a package that made quite a substantial difference there – we thought ‘we’re in, we’re going in the right direction’, and then got a proper kick in the teeth in the next two races. You peel the next layer off the onion, if you like, and you’ve got another problem. That was the one we’d really baked into the car in the winter. Since then, we’ve brought various steps to try and move us in the right direction, but to really undo that will take the winter.”

Elliott then described how Friday's practice sessions did not really help in ascertaining their problems, saying:

“You’ve got very little testing time because you’ve only got an hour on a Friday morning, an hour on a Friday afternoon and then you really need to be working on the race weekend. That does then take some time to learn. At the same time, you look at the factory approach. We’d discovered, probably after Baku time, there is clearly another problem. We went back through the data, through our simulations and found what we had found. Then from there, you’ve got a limited amount of time. The issue is an aerodynamic one and it just takes time to get on top of it.”

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Mercedes have "no need to worry" about Nyck de Vries racing for AlphaTauri

AlphaTauri recently confirmed that Nyck de Vries will be replacing Pierre Gasly in the team for the 2023 season. The Dutchman, who has served as Mercedes' reserve driver, was groomed by the team to become an exciting young talent in the sport before moving to Red Bull's sister team. Despite his association with the Silver Arrows, Mike Elliot is not too worried about him going to a team that has essentially been Mercedes' greatest rival over the last few seasons.

Claiming that he is happy for the 27-year-old, Elliot said:

“I’m very happy that Nyck has this opportunity. It might be a shame to see where he’s going, but it’s no different. I think he deserves this chance. He has shown to be an excellent driver. It was brilliant to have him in the pit box. He is a very nice guy, really knows what it is all about and understands the car.”

Addressing concerns about De Vries transferring information from the Mercedes camp to the Red Bull camp, the Silver Arrows' technical director said:

“Formula 1 changes so quickly. You learn so quickly. What he did a year ago probably doesn’t even help him now. What he may be more likely to take from us is the way we work together, our processes and our systems. We wish him success. I think he’s been very honourable in the way he’s dealt with us, so there’s no need to worry.”

Nyck de Vries made his F1 debut earlier this year at the Italian Grand Prix, where he filled in for Alex Albon at Williams.