Mercedes has introduced its first major aerodynamic upgrade since Canada at Sepang, significantly revising the W17’s overall concept in an attempt to generate more downforce and cornering grip. The Bahrain Grand Prix package affects several important areas of the car, including the sidepods, floorboard, rear bodywork and floor entrance.
The scale of the update represents a major development step for the Mercedes W17. Since Canada, when the technical department modified the floorboard, floor and front wing, Ferrari and particularly McLaren have reduced some of the performance gap at circuits that allowed their aerodynamic development to have a greater influence.
Mercedes changes direction with major W17 Sepang upgrade
McLaren introduced a new sidepod specification in Baku that moved towards the philosophy previously followed by Mercedes and Ferrari. At Sepang, however, Mercedes itself now appears to have taken what could initially look like a step in the opposite direction.
The revised W17 carries an extensive package affecting several areas of the car. The sidepods are particularly important because they control a significant part of the airflow travelling towards the rear of the car and ultimately the diffuser, while also helping protect that flow from the turbulent wake generated by the front wheels.
The fundamental objective is to maximise the amount of usable airflow around the car. Reducing the losses created by tyre wake gives aerodynamic surfaces further downstream more clean air with which to generate downforce.
From the beginning of the season, the Mercedes-Ferrari philosophy has relied on relatively wide sidepods. That architecture creates a channel between the lower section of the sidepod and the outer edge of the floor, an area that can help create a form of aerodynamic seal and keep the flow travelling towards the rear of the car as clean as possible.
This is the so-called double-floor concept, an approach that has also been part of the wider Ferrari aerodynamic philosophy.
Why Mercedes is moving towards a stronger downwash concept
Before Baku, McLaren had pursued a more extreme downwash solution designed to accelerate the airflow before it reached the rear of the car. That approach was intended to make the diffuser’s task easier and stabilise its performance across a wider range of conditions.
In hindsight, that configuration does not appear to have delivered the desired results on the MCL40, prompting McLaren’s technical group to adopt a less extreme layout.
Mercedes has now moved the W17 in the other direction with its Malaysian package, adopting a stronger downwash philosophy and attempting to free as much space as possible for airflow travelling towards the rear.
The revised sidepod inlets sit more tightly against the chassis. The additional external space is intended to increase local pressure and create a form of barrier against the dirty air generated by the front tyres.
This choice could be linked to several factors. Mercedes may have concluded that the aerodynamic devices around the front and rear wheel areas – including components such as the floorboard and rear corner – are effective enough to manage tyre wake, allowing a greater proportion of airflow to be directed towards the rear without suffering excessive losses.
Mercedes targets reduced drag and cleaner airflow around rear tyres
Another consequence of the revised shape concerns where the car reaches its largest cross-sectional area. Moving that point forwards, and therefore further from the rear axle, moves the flow travelling over the sidepods away from the rear wheels.
In theory, that should make the flow less vulnerable to turbulence and could also reduce some of the drag generated by the bodywork.
Air reaching the rear tyre more directly creates a high-pressure region that is difficult to control, together with disordered airflow spreading around either side of the wheel. Managing this interaction is particularly important because of the rear tyre’s proximity to the diffuser and other downforce-producing structures.
With a more aggressive downwash configuration, the airflow arriving at the rear of the car should contain more energy and could therefore be better able to resist turbulence.
This flow would combine with the air travelling through the undercut beneath the sidepod inlet, which remains on the updated W17. That area is intended to increase the pressure difference between the upper and lower surfaces of the car and therefore strengthen the low-pressure region underneath the floor.
The philosophy forms part of Mercedes’ continued attempt to unlock more performance from the W17 after Toto Wolff previously acknowledged that the team still had untapped potential in its upgrade programme.
Floorboard changes follow Ferrari-inspired approach
A stronger and more controlled rearward flow could also improve the effectiveness of downforce-generating features in this area, including the mouse-hole used to energise the expanding airflow leaving the diffuser.
Further downstream, Mercedes has modified the floorboard. The most significant change is not to its horizontal elements but the addition of a vertical component at the front of the assembly, following a line of thinking previously used at Maranello.
The objective of this element is relatively clear: to manage and redistribute turbulent airflow differently towards the centre of the car, working together with the upwash generated by the horizontal profiles.
Mercedes extends W17 rear bodywork around diffuser area
The W17 also features a longer rear engine-cover extension, now visually reminiscent of the so-called “cannons” seen on ground-effect Formula 1 cars.
The intention is likely to involve repositioning some internal components to free additional space for the airflow entering the diffuser region. At the same time, the design moves hot exiting air further towards the rear, where its higher-energy flow can potentially be exploited.
The W17’s bodywork remains tightly packaged, as it was at the previous race, but the overall aerodynamic concept has been revised considerably.
Mercedes Sepang upgrade targets more grip and downforce
The primary objective of the package is additional cornering load. As confirmed by those directly involved, Mercedes expects the changes to increase both aerodynamic downforce and grip.
“The upgrades should provide more aerodynamic load and more grip. We hope to get more grip, and we’ll see how the balance of the car changes with the new parts,” the Bologna-born driver explained.
The extensive aerodynamic work should inevitably alter some of the W17’s handling characteristics, particularly at a circuit such as Sepang. The opening practice sessions have already offered Mercedes its first opportunity to understand those changes under representative conditions.
If the concept works as intended, the revised architecture could potentially broaden the W17’s operating window at high speed and at larger yaw angles, improving performance at circuits that have previously made the Mercedes look less dominant than usual.
That would represent an important development for a car whose earlier performance level had already demonstrated just how competitive the W17 could be when operating in favourable conditions.
New floor entrance completes Mercedes aerodynamic rethink
The effectiveness of the entire package will depend on whether Mercedes’ aerodynamic devices can manage dirty air as intended. The sidepods have not been changed in isolation: several related aerodynamic structures have evolved at the same time.
Among the most important are the floorboard and the entrance to the floor, which now follows a double-entry concept previously developed by Ferrari and later adopted by McLaren.
Mercedes has therefore not simply added individual components at Sepang. The Bahrain Grand Prix package represents a broader revision of how airflow is managed around the W17, with more downwash, revised tyre-wake control and changes around the floor all working towards the same objective: increasing usable downforce and giving the drivers more grip through the corners.
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