Toto Wolff makes Mercedes F1 2022 cost cap warning over porpoising struggles

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff insists the team’s toiling W13 car has the potential to improve significantly in the near future despite a very poor start to the 2022 Formula 1 campaign, but has warned that team may face financial implications if it needs to completely revamp its design in a bid to avoid porpoising.

Ferrari and Red Bull are this season’s early frontrunners, having taken a pair of victories each in the opening four rounds of the year. They look set to compete for both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships, with the Silver Arrows way off the pace behind them.

The Brackley-based squad have built the fastest car on the grid every year since 2014, but have struggled significantly with the transition to Formula 1’s new era of technical regulations, which have brought about the return of ground effect aerodynamics for the first time since the 1980s and forced all ten teams to completely re-design their machinery from scratch.

Changes were made by governing body the FIA in an attempt to allow cars to follow one another more closely and for drivers to race each other harder. So far, the changes seem to be having the desired effect, with Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen engaging in thrilling tactical tussles for the lead in all four of the opening rounds.

But the aerodynamic shift has brought with it a peculiar quirk known as ‘porpoising’, which sees cars bouncing violently up and down when travelling at high speeds due to the balance of air beneath the floor shifting forwards and backwards. While some teams have managed to resolve or mitigate the issue, Mercedes’ W13 car is suffering worse than most, and is simply slower through the corners than Ferrari and Red Bull’s concepts.

Seven-time world