Mercedes' 2022 challenger has gone down as its worst since it became a regular title-winning force at the start of the V6 hybrid era in 2014, with the first Silver Arrow since 2019 most closely associated with the porpoising problem that impacted all F1 squads in the first season of the championship's return to ground-effects regulations.
After the team discovered the severity of its porpoising problem at the second 2022 pre-season test, Mercedes realised it needed to upgrade its design tools so future updates could address the aerodynamic issues causing porpoising.
