Mercedes’ trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin, has suggested that the team’s radical ‘zeropod’ concept, introduced in 2022, might have been successful if approached with their current understanding and knowledge of Formula 1 car development. This concept, characterized by its extremely narrow sidepods, was Mercedes’ initial interpretation of the ground-effect regulations but ultimately proved challenging to optimize, leading to a significant shift in car design for the 2024 season.
The ‘zeropod’ concept, championed by former technical director Mike Elliott, aimed to maximize aerodynamic efficiency. However, from the outset, Mercedes encountered severe porpoising and bouncing issues with their cars. To mitigate these problems, they were forced to run the cars at higher ride heights, which in turn compromised the downforce generated by the ground effect aerodynamics. After two seasons of persistent struggles to unlock the performance potential of the zeropod design, Mercedes decided to abandon it in favor of a more conventional approach for the 2024 season. This decision coincided with personnel changes within the team, with James Allison returning to the technical director role, replacing Mike Elliott.
Under Allison’s leadership, the design philosophy for the W15 car marked a significant departure from its predecessors. The new concept has shown promising results, culminating in a strong performance in Belgium where Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton initially secured a 1-2 finish (later revised due to Russell’s disqualification). This improved performance suggests Mercedes is gaining a better grasp of developing a competitive car with a wider operating window, something that had eluded them during the zeropod era.
Reflecting on the zeropod concept, Andrew Shovlin indicated that with the knowledge accumulated over the past two years, the team could potentially have made it work. “Yes, in the sense that if any team knew what they knew now and were able to jump back to 2021 and have another go at it,” Shovlin stated in Belgium. “They would have the fastest car because every team has had to go through a significant learning phase. In that sense, we could have got those side pods to work.”
Despite acknowledging the potential of the zeropod with hindsight, Shovlin downplayed the likelihood of Mercedes revisiting this design path. He suggested that the current car concept and development trajectory have proven more fruitful. “Would they have had the same performance as the current design of the car? Maybe not,” he commented. “But [the sidepods] weren’t actually the biggest thing that was wrong with that car, there were other things that, if we were allowed to fix two things, probably the side pods wouldn’t have been on that list.” Shovlin concluded that “where we are now is clearly a more performant solution.”
Looking back at the challenges faced during the 2022 and 2023 seasons, Shovlin admitted that Mercedes’ approach involved a degree of “trial and error.” He explained that Formula 1 car development inherently involves research and development based on theories about aerodynamics, tire behavior, and vehicle dynamics. “So I think there’ll always be an element of trial and error, our issue was more that we were being caught out with problems that we hadn’t anticipated well enough,” Shovlin noted. He emphasized the ongoing learning process in Formula 1, stating, “if you just look at the way that the performance of teams is moving around at the moment, it’s evident that no one understands everything that there is to know about the current generation of cars.”
In conclusion, while the Mercedes Zero Pod concept presented significant hurdles initially, the team believes it could have been viable with their present understanding. However, Mercedes has moved forward with a different design philosophy, which appears to be yielding better results. The journey with the zeropod serves as a valuable learning experience, highlighting the complexities and continuous evolution in Formula 1 car development.
