It’s safe to say the headlines on day one of Bahrain testing have belonged to Mercedes with them unveiling a radical new car design that Ross Brawn admits is something that the sport did not anticipate when devising the brand new regulations.
The new Formula 1 season kicks off next weekend in Sakhir with the Bahrain Grand Prix, and all the teams will be eager to leave a marker over the next few days in testing at the same circuit.
Mercedes have caused quite the stir early on, meanwhile, with them unveiling an update to their W13 that sees them running effectively without sidepods – something no other team has even thought of.
Potentially, it could pave the way for real Mercedes success this year if the performance is delivered by the design but, of course, with it so totally different to what any other car has got heading into 2022, there is the natural suggest that protests will be lodged and it could yet be banned.
Ross Brawn admits, too, that it’s a design concept that they did not anticipate when putting the 2022 rules together but he has said that they will not rush to penalise the Silver Arrows and will instead see what comes out in the wash in the coming days, with the FIA surely on top of things.
Speaking to Will Buxton this morning on Sky’s coverage of day one of the test, Brawn said:
“There is no doubt that the Mercedes concept is something we didn’t anticipate.
“It’s a very extreme interpretation of the regulations and inevitably there is going to be a lot of debate.
“It’s impressive. I think this is the great thing about the innovation about Formula One.
“It’s just keeping them within boundaries which are sensible and there are no compromises in terms of the objectives that we wanted to achieve.
“I think you have to be fair. When a team comes up with an idea with innovation, with novelty, you shouldn’t penalise it straight away.
“But I think, as it’s understood more, and the FIA really as the regulators will know everything that’s going on there.
“We don’t as Formula One because we’re not entitled to have that information, but the regulators will know everything that’s going on.
“I think they’re ok with it so far but of course a team may come in and raise an objection that the FIA have to consider and then you have a problem and I’ve been through that many times where your idea is ok, the FIA agree its ok and a team comes in with a perspective that has never been considered and have an argument that’s valid.
“I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of discussion about it but it’s impressive. For a set of rules which everybody said were too prescriptive, we’re seeing all these solutions.”
Keyword: Ross Brawn offers his thoughts on ‘extreme’ new Mercedes car