Lewis Hamilton’s Car ‘Fails Crash Test’ As Mercedes Fall Back To Plan B

MERCEDES have more to do ahead of the 2022 season after their new W13 car reportedly failed to match FIA crash regulations. Mercedes will reportedly have to make more changes to their cars for the 2022 F1 season after apparently failing to pass the latest FIA crash tests, a claim the manufacturer denies. The procedure is mandatory for all teams and cars ahead of a new campaign, to help ensure the safety of drivers should they be involved in a collision on the track.

Mercedes chiefs have been working vigorously on their new W13 vehicle, as they seek to adapt to major changes in regulations ahead of the new campaign, which gets underway in Bahrain on March 20.

Having already released snippets of the new car on social media, all will be officially unveiled on February 18, just five days before pre-season testing begins in Barcelona.

However, according to the Italian version of Motorsport.com the Silver Arrows, Constructors’ champions for the past eight seasons, failed the crash test last week on the side of the W13.

They weren’t the only ones though, with same website also reporting that Red Bull didn’t pass either, failing on the front of the new RB18, and like Mercedes now have work to do ahead of the testing sessions in Spain.

The development is not said to be major inconvenience to Toto Wolff’s team, with the team having already having teed up a ‘plan B’ option if their original designs failed, with last week’s failure only set to cause a minor delay in their preparation.

However, Mercedes deny those claims with a spokesperson telling gpblog: “We completed homologation several weeks ago.”
Mercedes design boss James Allison recently sent a video message to fans admitting “It has been incredibly hard,” preparing for the overhaul of rules and regulations.

Very challenging, and long, to get our heads around this and to try to figure out what the best response is to these regulations, and where the opportunity is to be found in order to put a car on the track in a few short weeks from now, that gives us a chance of being competitive right from the beginning,” he said.
The build-up to the campaign has thus far been dominated by the uncertainty over the future of Lewis Hamilton, who is yet to confirm if he’ll continue in F1.

The British driver is yet to speak publicly ever since the controversial finish to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which saw him miss out on a record-breaking eighth world crown when he was overtaken on the final lap by Max Verstappen.

The drama followed the now infamous safety car procedure, which saw race director Michael Masi alter his original instructions to drivers in order to ensure one final lap of racing, gifting Verstappen the opportunity to pass his rival.

A current FIA enquiry into what transpired is currently ongoing, with the 37-year-old awaiting the outcome before deciding on whether he’ll continue.

With the planned Mercedes unveil less than three weeks away, it appears increasingly likely that Hamilton will carry on, with his current Mercedes contract taking him up until 2023.

Should he do so, he’ll form a mouth-watering all British partnership with George Russell, with the 23-year-old having joined from Williams.

Russell’s arrival signals the end of Hamilton’s partnership with Valtteri Bottas, who he raced alongside for five years. Bottas will instead drive for Alfa Romeo.