Damon Hill explains why Mercedes’ sidepods concept could cause them ‘trouble’ in 2022

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Damon Hill believes that Mercedes’ sidepods could be the cause of the team’s trouble during preseason testing.

The German team, who have won the last eight Constructors’ Championships, unveiled a new design at the second round of testing in Bahrain.

After an overhaul of aerodynamic regulations during the offseason, teams have been forced to reconsider many aspects of their cars between seasons, leading to more uncertainty over early-season performance with a few tweaks likely to have to be made.

Having been slightly off-the-pace at times at the Sakhir Circuit, Lewis Hamilton suggested the car that he will drive during the 2022 Formula 1 season has “potential”, but expressed a belief that it will not immediately be able to contend for race victory.

Hill, the 1996 F1 world champion, believes that the “slim” sidepods could be the cause of their bother, and suggested that they may need changing.

“We know Mercedes has got some issues but these things can be fixed,” Hill explained on the F1 Nation podcast.

“I’m not an engineer or an aerodynamicist, but one of the issues they had was the flexing of the floors. There is so much suck coming from under the floors now that I think they’re having trouble keeping control of the floors, that is why they’ve put these floor-stays in.

“If you look at the Mercedes, there is a vast area because they’ve got such slim sidepods, there is not much there to hold the floor up and it could be that they’re getting more of this flex which is creating a problem to control the aerodynamics at the back of the car.

“It could be that once they get that fixed, that they will be able to control the downforce.”

Mercedes have been accused in the past of talking themselves down ahead of the start of the season before beginning well.

Hamilton took victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix last year but insists that he does not feel like his team will open the year among the fastest on the grid.

“I think people will be surprised maybe,” the 37-year-old said. “Or at least people keep talking about us talking ourselves down. But it’s a bit different this year.

“I’m sure everyone can figure that out - we are not the quickest at the moment.

“Ferrari look to be the quickest, then perhaps Red Bull, and then maybe us or maybe McLaren, I don’t know. But we’re currently not at the top.”

The 2022 Formula 1 season begins in Bahrain this weekend.