Aston Martin with the Mercedes engine. That’s what you’ll find Fernando Alonso in his new adventure in Formula 1, surely the last of his career. And that engine will have significant improvements for next season.
So it has been announced Toto Wolff, head of Mercedes, who has spoken of the famous ‘porpoising’. The rebound that affected so much Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in some first races that became hellish for them.
“We came out at the start of the season with some power unit wobbles and we were not convinced by certain aspects deployment or driveability of the power unit,” explains Wolff.
“Speaking to the general manager of powertrains, hywell thomas, he and his team were able to really increase performance and cope with the tough environment of a car bouncing around and breaking the engine. Despite everything, we were very reliable,” says Wolff.
How did they manage to remove it and find the performance? “He told us ‘look, we’re going to have to make small gains’. At the same time, reliability couldn’t be compromised. In that period of the season, it became clear that the engines were suffering a lot,” he insisted.
“At the Brixworth factory, we were able to see at the bottom of the engines, some of their elements and it was a great surprise to see exactly how hard they hit the ground. When you saw Lewis and George getting really uncomfortable getting out of their cars, something similar would happen to the power units,” said the Mercedes boss.
There will be no bounce in the W14 and therefore not in the AMR23. A key factor for the development of the green car. Surely Alonso smiles knowing that the power of his engine will be greater. And, most importantly, more reliable than the Alpine of the past.