Why Mercedes’ updated rear suspension will face a tough test in F1’s Austrian GP

Mercedes reintroduced the rear suspension package that it debuted at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix last time out in Canada. The update was designed to cure the rear tyre surface overheating issues that the team has experienced with its W16 Formula 1 car this year.

Following a difficult debut in Imola, Mercedes put the revised geometry to one side for the Monaco and Spain race weekends. Its intent was to gather some comparative data to determine if the new suspension was at fault for a muted weekend in Italy.

Mercedes felt that it was worth reintegrating it into the package for Montreal, having found no conclusive evidence that it had indeed caused further problems for the W16. Although the race in Canada experienced track temperatures approaching 50C, the lack of high-load corners around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve made Mercedes’ life easier in managing the softest trio of tyre compounds.

Although it is not entirely conclusive if the new rear suspension contributed to George Russell‘s win and Andrea Kimi Antonelli‘s maiden podium, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff reckoned that the development was at least heading in the right direction.

“We brought the new rear geometry for that particular problem that we had, the rear surface overheating,” Wolff said.

“And we weren’t quite sure about the results in Imola because they were worse than we expected. Taking it off [for Monaco and Barcelona] I think, was the right thing to do.

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

“We [took it to Canada] because hopefully the development direction is correct. But it’s always, in these kind of regulations, you never know whether you land development or whether you don’t. Correlation has been difficult, particularly for us, but for many other teams.

“I think there’s other factors at play here also; the track layout is just different, the asphalt is different. And there’s never one magic solution that makes the car from a, let’s say, best case podium car to a dominant winner.

“But the more data we have, the more we learn.”

Austria will be a much greater test, assuming Mercedes continues to use its new rear suspension geometry. As Europe basks in the summer sun, the temperatures will start to ratchet up; indeed, early forecasts suggest that the race at the Red Bull Ring will approach 30C ambient temperature.

In previous years, similar climes have pushed the track temperatures over the 50C mark – a zone that Mercedes might consider something of a danger area. The team experienced a weakness in hotter temperatures last year, where the rear surface started to experience graining and cost the drivers grip.

When the surface grains, particularly at the rears, the car starts to slide – creating further difference between the surface temperatures and those in the tyre ‘carcass’, exacerbating the graining problem.

If Mercedes’ rear suspension package truly is ensuring that the surface and carcass temperatures are much more consistent, through the revised load paths directed through the car into the rear tyres, then it should be more adequately equipped to deal with Austria’s range of corners.

The circuit has few long-radius corners, the sole examples being the infield double-left at Turns 6 and 7, but Turn 9 will also require speed to be carried through and increase the loads on the left-hand tyres.

Regardless, these corners should offer more of an indication if the new suspension is doing its job in keeping the tyres within their working window. The C3-4-5 range of tyres will be used once again, offering a point of comparison to last season’s tyre management capabilities.