Before the F1 circus travels to Bahrain for pre-season testing and the season opener, most teams are taking part in a shakedown to give their drivers a first go in their new cars.
Mercedes’ run at Silverstone was reportedly plagued with problems, with some reports saying that the Silver Arrows experienced a lot of power unit troubles, with misfiring and spluttering hindering the team’s run.
There have also been rumours that porpoising has somewhat returned to haunt the team, with the W14 reportedly bouncing during its initial run.
Porpoising would be the team’s worst nightmare, having spent the first half of last season desperately trying to get rid of the bouncing.
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George Russell was asked whether Mercedes have banished their porpoising issue to the past following the Silverstone shakedown, a question to which he gave a blunt reply.
“You’ll see next week,” he answered, referring to pre-season testing in Bahrain.
“It’s great to get on track with the W14. It was very cold and greasy out there today, but the car ran smoothly, and we completed all the laps we are permitted to do.
“We know pre-season testing in Bahrain will be the first real test of the car. Nevertheless, it looks great out on circuit and the feeling from within the car is so far, so good.”
Having struggled at the start of 2022 to compete under the new regulations, Mercedes did manage to apply upgrades to the W13 towards the end of the season.
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These upgrades resulted in the W13 becoming a competitive car for the final run in, with George Russell even managing to pick up the first win of his career in Brazil.
While Russell has said that fans will not see how the W14 truly performs until pre-season testing in Bahrain, it is very likely that the team will sandbag.
This means that Mercedes will hide the true potential of the W14 in order to not give anything away to their rivals, leaving fans in the dark until the Bahrain Grand Prix gets the season underway at the start of March.