A new chassis, new front and rear suspension, new gearbox and honed aerodynamics and sidepods will be the most visual changes to its heavily revised challenger.
In Formula 1, though, the devil is in the detail, and it will be in areas nigh on impossible to spot – like the underfloor, its aero platform concept and its ride height – where the biggest revolution will have taken place.
For the true story of what Mercedes got wrong with its previous two ground effect cars was not about topics that become major talking points – like its infamous zeropods or the seating position of drivers.
It was far more related to concepts relating to ride height – something that you cannot really observe from the outside.
As Mercedes technical director James Allison explained: “We placed value on the wrong things.”
Mercedes' issues can be traced back to the horrendous porpoising that its W13 suffered from in 2022, with a car that delivered its peak downforce in an area so close to the ground where bouncing became a problem.
However, lifting the car did not help much as it found itself losing too much performance, backing itself away from low ride heights.
It eventually got on top of the issues at play and did stage a good recovery throughout that campaign to find downforce higher up, winning the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix, and that gave it some confidence that the worst was behind it.
Source: Autosport