The German car manufacturer has been held back so far this season by porpoising, which has forced the team to run its W13 with a much higher ride height than it was originally designed for.
Raising the platform is costing it a lot of downforce, but the outfit remains convinced that if it can switch off the porpoising then it can unlock a lot of pace by being able to run the car where it was originally intended.
The team has worked hard to get to the bottom of the problem and it is now hoping that it can bring developments to Miami that will offer it a proper indication about whether or not it has begun the properly get on top of the issue.
Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said the updates would not instantly solve all of Mercedes’ problems, but would at least confirm if it is heading in the right direction.
Speaking in the team’s regular post-race weekend analysis video, Shovlin said: “We know where we are at the moment, we know that gap that we need to make up to get where we want to be, but as a team, we are very focussed on the engineering challenge that this is, and it is a very interesting engineering challenge.
“[These are] problems that are new to us, that we need to get on top of and understand and there is an enormous amount of energy back here going into that, but day by day we are moving forward, we are learning more about it and hopefully, soon, maybe as soon as Miami, we can start to bring some parts to the car that will hopefully give us an indication on whether we are moving in the right direction.
“We are not expecting to solve this overnight. But if we can get a clue that we are going in the right direction, that we really got to the bottom of what is going on, then we will be quite pleased that we are just moving on the right path.”
Mercedes tweaked its floor for Imola
Team boss Toto Wolff suggested over the Imola weekend, where the team endured a very difficult weekend, that the team just had to find a way of…
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