Mercedes issue warning over 'F1 trap' as defiant message sent to rivals

Mercedes has warned rival F1 teams of falling into "traps" with F1's new technical regulations - as it fired a warning about its own chances.

For next season, both the chassis and power unit rules are being revamped in the single-biggest change to the architecture of a grand prix car in history. 

In the last change of regulations ahead of 2022, the Mercedes F1 empire fell as the team failed to get to grips with the ground-effect designs, but in the final year of the cycle, it is on course to finish in second in the constructors' for the second time after 2023.

Looking ahead to the new rules, trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin was firm that the team would not be tripped up again, as he warned of "traps"

"You know, there are always going to be traps, and there are going to be teams that are disappointed with the job they've done," Shovlin told media, including RacingNews365. 

"You would never walk into a new set of regulations thinking it'll be straightforward, but what you would say is that the regulations move back towards the previous generation of car, where you're unlikely to get the same issues with porpoising that affected the start of these regulations.

"Even if there were problems like that, with what we've learned in the intervening period, with the tools we've developed to understand aerodynamics, we would be in a better place to deal with it. 

"But there is always the challenge of trying to get a new formula balance because we can do work in the simulators, but really, until you start running the car on track, you don't know exactly how it is going to behave."