F1 rumours: Mercedes find ‘double digit’ horsepower gain with W14 engine
Mercedes bodywork for Lewis Hamilton's W13 in the Silverstone pit lane. Britain July 2022
Following on from reports Ferrari found massive engine gains during the off-season, it’s now being claimed Mercedes’ horsepower will also be up by “double digits”.
Although Formula 1’s engine manufacturers are not permitted to make alterations to their power units in order to gain performance, the sport entering its second year under an engine freeze, they are allowed to make changes based on reliability.
That, it is being said, has given Ferrari some 30hp extra with the Scuderia’s reliability fixes over the winter allow them to turn up the power they had to sacrifice last season with their temperamental PU.
Mercedes have reportedly also found gains through improved reliability with Formu1a.uno reporting that ‘rumours coming out of Brackley are that the German engine will gain double-digit value’.
Although cautioning Mercedes to be “realistic about our expectations”, motorsport boss Toto Wolff is hopeful.
“If our performance is at the level we hope they will be, we could be part of the fight at the top,” he said.
“I think that would be a good starting point, but let’s not take it for granted, because it can also happen that we have a gap like we had at the end of last season.
“I believe that there is still so much potential in our car and its philosophy that maybe we will have a very big and steep development curve in the months to come.”
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The Brackley squad will take the covers off the W14 on Wednesday, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell almost immediately into the action as they’ll put the car through its pace at Silverstone in a shakedown.
The team is expected to retain the zero-pod design, the Italian publication claiming the ‘innovative philosophy that has distinguished the W13’ will remain.
Mercedes, though, have made a few tweaks to the car’s design in recent weeks, leaving them in a race against time to have the car ready for Wednesday’s action.
‘In order to get ready for the presentation day, the work is very hectic as the timetable was not fully respected and so extra work was asked of the employees in the last few weeks,’ claims Formu1auno.
‘The problems involved the actual production of some parts, as late modifications were made to the W14 project.’
Like their rivals, Mercedes will also embrace the carbon look in a bid to reduce the car’s weight with black-and-grey expected to be the predominant colours.
