The centrepiece to those changes was made to its sidepods, and builds on the conceptual shift taken at the Monaco Grand Prix when it opted to abandon the 'zeropod' concept used since the start of the current ground effect era.
Mercedes had switched to a wider, downwash ramp-style solution in a similar vein to its rivals, but it appears it cannot go as aggressive with the bodywork shaping as it would like, so only really has a makeshift solution.
That is because the team has to be sympathetic to the position of its upper SIS (Side Impact Structure) and the fairing that envelopes it.
Mercedes is unable to alter this area of the car, as it would require a new chassis to be homologated, which is something that’s unattainable during the course of the season due to the cost cap.
While dramatic changes to the SIS fairing might be off the table, Mercedes has made changes to the aerodynamic furniture housed around it, with the mirror slat from above the housing removed in Spain (above, blue arrow, inset), while the row of vortex generators mounted on the upper corner of the fairing (above, red arrow, inset) were reduced from four to three in Canada and have been deleted entirely as part of this update.
Like Red Bull, which made changes to its sidepods in Hungary, Mercedes listed the taller sidepod inlet being used this weekend as a reliability update, rather than being purely aerodynamic. This suggests there’s work that has been undertaken to the internal ducting, as well as the external bodywork.
The shape of the inlet has also changed, with a more cylindrical scoop favoured when compared with the boxy layout used since its update in Monaco.
This clearly has implications in regard to its cooling capacity and it also results in a revised undercut layout, in order to deliver a better flow regime downstream.
There’s changes at the rear of the sidepod bodywork to take advantage of this too, with much more concavity down the flank of the ramped section to help push flow laterally around the rear tyre.
The ramp section is also more abrupt than before, with the bodywork dropping down to meet with the floor and better engage the flow across and through the gulley-like upper surface of the sidepod.
And, as a means to work in conjunction with the changes to the rear portion of the sidepod, the camber of the engine cover has also been modified.
On the topic of updates working in unison, there’s also been some changes made to the W14’s floor, with Mercedes noting in its car presentation document that it has altered the volume distribution of the underfloor.
This, according to the team, should help to extract more local load from the forward floor vortex system, which in-turn improves flow to the diffuser.
This is characterised externally by the reduction in strakes on the scroll section of the floor in the forward corner, with their number reduced from three (above, inset) to two.
Source: Autosport