Mercedes debut radical sidepod design as Bahrain F1 test begins

The reigning world champions had been tipped to bring a significant upgrade package to the second week of pre-season testing and rumours of a ‘sidepod-less’ design emerged leading up to the test. 

Lewis Hamilton hit the track on Thursday morning in the updated W13, which features a much slimmer sidepod design. Mercedes’ updated 2022 challenger also has taller and narrower cooling inlets. 

Mercedes admitted after the opening test in Barcelona that it was looking at Red Bull’s “interesting” and similarly-aggressive sidepod design, which turned heads during the first week of running. 

Hamilton has already been spotted locking up several times during the early stages of the opening day, while the Mercedes once again appears to be suffering from F1’s porpoising phenomenon. 

Elsewhere, there has been a driver line-up change at McLaren with Lando Norris taking over testing duties on Thursday. 

Daniel Ricciardo had originally been scheduled to run on the first day but the Australian has been substituted after “feeling unwell”.

The second and final pre-season test takes place at the Bahrain International Circuit between March 10-12, before the season gets underway at Sakhir on March 20.