As we were nearing the beginning of the 2022 season, many believed all the cars would end up looking similar. That was because of the newest FIA regulations that left little for teams’ technical teams to play around. However, once the cars hit the track, we were all in for a surprise as cars looked vastly different, owing mostly to the side pod designs. Mercedes sported the most radically different side pods which, in hindsight, we all know did not work out too well for them.

Many termed Mercedes’ side pod design as the zero-pod concept. The slim vertically shaped air intake caught many by surprise. While it looked minimal, calling it zero-pod would rather be inaccurate. While the design conceptually gave them massive amounts of downforce, the car faced extreme porpoising issues in real life.

Mercedes unwilling to budge from the ‘zero-pod’ concept

Mercedes for the first time in many seasons failed to challenge Red Bull and Ferrari in most races. Apart from facing porpoising issues, they just did not have enough pace to pose any challenge for wins. Despite that, it looks like they are not willing to make many changes to next year’s W14.

Motorsport-Total recently quoted team boss Toto Wolff saying, “The last time I saw [the new car] in the wind tunnel, it looked exactly the same [as the current one]. But [the engineers] told me that it wasn’t.” [Translated using Google]

Brazilian GP winner George Russell doesn’t feel the need for the team to change the side pod design. George told, “I think our problems don’t really have anything to do with the philosophy of the side pods.”

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The latest developments differ vastly from what Toto Wolff and the team’s technical director revealed earlier this month.

What Mercedes’ technical director had earlier said about the 2023 car’s design

Toto Wolff earlier this month admitted to sporting a completely different car with a changed DNA. Silver Arrows’ technical director Mike Elliott too spoke along similar lines.

The Race quoted Mike saying, “I think we’ve found a path we believe in and a path we can move along and get better.” 

“[Next year’s car] will look different, I’m not going to say why but it will look different.”

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George Russell and Toto Wolff, in their latest comments, have taken a vastly different stand. What changes Mercedes will introduce to the car? Will only know in next year’s pre-season testing now. One thing is for sure though, Mercedes will not be competitive enough if they tread along the same line they did in 2022.