Here is the thing about getting an upgrade right: sometimes it takes patience, and sometimes it takes a complete rethinking of how the carbon fiber hangs off the nose of the machine. The new Mercedes front wing, which first trailed during practice in Singapore, finally made its proper race debut in Austin. And what a debut it was, landing straight onto the winning car of Kimi Antonelli and that of his team mate George Russell.
The essential difference between the original wing and this new iteration comes down to the distribution of chord area between the three wing elements. It is a subtle aerodynamic detail, but it changes everything for how the beast behaves on track. The original wing was mounted to the nose via the middle element, which is an unusual configuration to begin with.
Because of that unique mounting choice on the older spec, only the top flap was able to flatten when the car entered straight line mode (SLM). With the updated design running on both cars in Austin, the engineers clearly unlocked a better balance across the assembly, setting up Antonelli and Russell for success.
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