The compromises Mercedes battled to make ‘monster diva’ W12 a winner
After a shaky start, the W12 delivered Mercedes an eighth consecutive constructors’ championship in 2021. Speaking exclusively to GP Racing’s Stuart Codling, tech bosses Mike Elliott and Hywel Thomas explain the reasons for the team’s toughest-ever title defence…
Team boss Toto Wolff famously described Mercedes’ fast-but-fractious 2017 W08 car as “a diva”. Recalling that sobriquet during the 2021 world championship run-in, Lewis Hamilton went a step further when discussing the challenges of taming the W12: “This one,” he said, “is a monster of a diva.”
For all that Hamilton dominated the 2020 season, repeating the feat, even with a carry-over car, was never going to be easy. A budget cap, new limits on in-season development, a resurgent Red Bull, a new technical ruleset on the horizon, along with new aero regulations announced relatively late in the day – all these factors would conspire to render 2021 a most perilous tightrope act.
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