---
title: "2022 F1 cars performance will be ‘relatively similar’ to last year, reckons Mercedes"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2022/02/01/2022-f1-cars-performance-will-be-relatively-similar-to-last-year-reckons-mercedes/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Hamilton Lyndon-Griffiths"
section: "F1 News"
published: "2022-02-01T11:07:23Z"
modified: "2022-02-01T11:07:25Z"
---

# 2022 F1 cars performance will be ‘relatively similar’ to last year, reckons Mercedes

Formula 1’s new generation of cars will have a “relatively similar” level of performance to 2021 despite the major regulation changes, believes Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott.

F1 cars will look radically different to their predecessors in 2022 due to the revised technical regulations, which have been designed to improve wheel-to-wheel racing and lead to greater competition up and down the grid.

The overhaul of the aerodynamic package, that includes the return of ground effect and new 18-inch tyres, is aimed at limiting the issue of following another car closely, which proved a major problem with the introduction of wider cars in 2017.

It had been expected that the rules reset would make cars slower by a number of seconds, but the pace difference is now predicted to not be as big as first thought.

Explaining the changes of the technical regulations in a video posted by Mercedes, Elliott reckoned there wouldn’t be as noticeable difference in the performance of this year’s cars to 2021 as previously anticipated.

“The overall performance of the new cars is probably not going to be very different from the old \[ones\],” Elliott said.

“Obviously the intention of these regulations was to try and improve overtaking, and it will be a little bit of time before we can see whether that’s actually happened.

“The car is a bit heavier, the power unit on the E10 fuel is going to perform slightly differently, and the way the aerodynamics are going to work and the set-up of the car that goes with it will be different as well.

“Until we get the best out of that, until we’ve developed that through testing and the first few races, we’re not really going to know.

“But overall, I suspect the performance will be relatively similar to last year.”

Mercedes will launch its 2022 challenger on February 18, with the team expected to debut the W13 in a shakedown run at Silverstone.

Following reports it had failed a crash test ahead of the new season, Mercedes moved to clarify its car passed the FIA’s homologation process in mid-January.