The tiny change that shows Mercedes is not only thinking of porpoising

Although much of its work is on aerodynamic and mechanical improvements to tame the bouncing that Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are suffering from, it has not made the mistake of throwing all its efforts behind that single issue.

Instead, it has made sure to keep up with as much regular development as it can to ensure that it is properly positioned to capitalise on things when it finally cures its chief problem.

That is why a glance at the configuration of its car at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix showed a new stay protruding from its mirror solution, something that appears tiny in the grand scheme of things but is evidence of the mindset Mercedes has adopted.

The new stay appeared for the first time below the Side Impact Structure (SIS) fairing that has housed the team’s mirror solution this year.

Much like the German car manufacturer’s use of the segmented stay arrangement on the upper surface of the SIS, which proved to be controversial when rival teams first saw them, the new surface is redundant from a support perspective. Instead, its intent is entirely aerodynamic.

Just like those segmented surfaces used to influence the airflow on the upper surface of the SIS, which are also a feature used by AlphaTauri, this new surface fits within the confines of the bounding boxes set out in the regulations.

This means that while there could be some debate about whether or not the stay is really necessary to act as a mirror support, it is fully legal within the wording of the F1 regulations.

The change is tiny and probably inconsequential from a performance point of view with so much of the W13’s pace dependent on the porpoising problem, but the team is clear that it has to keep updating its car as much as possible right now.

Asked by Motorsport.com about why Mercedes has produced something that seems so insignificant to the overall issues the team is facing, trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said: “It is a very, very small change.

“But when you when you have a car that’s difficult to work with and not quick enough, you don’t want to hold all your bread and butter development work in the tunnel because that’s just time lost.

“If you stop for a month, you’ll be the equivalent to that behind, in terms of development, by the end of the year.

“So one of the challenges that we’re facing now, which is really new to us in the last few years, is you’re…