F1 News
Newey on sidepod concepts: 'Had a quick look at the Mercedes'
- Toby McLuskie
Red Bull Racing is well ahead in both championships in the 2023 season. Last year it was already apparent that Red Bull had the fastest car, leading many other teams to follow the Austrian formation's sidepod concept. Adrian Newey indicates to Sky Sports that Red Bull has also taken a look at Mercedes ' innovative concept.
In 2022, Mercedes introduced the so-called 'zeropods'. The W13 of that time had almost no sidepods and this season's W14 also had the same concept, until the Monaco Grand Prix. Indeed, in the principality, the German constructor took a huge upgrade package for their car, with which Mercedes abandoned their concept. From that GP, the W14 did have sidepods and also follow Red Bull's direction.
Red Bull looked to Mercedes
At the second winter test in Bahrain in 2022, Mercedes stole the show with its innovative concept, but in the end its performance did not prove good enough. Ferrari also had a special concept, but here Red Bull did not even look into it, according to Newey.
"Should we look more at what Ferrari did with their shape? In the end, we had a very quick look at the Mercedes to see what they were trying to achieve. We didn't look at Ferrari and mainly concentrated on developing our own car and luckily we seem to have had a decent solution," said the Red Bull top man.