Toto Wolff, Mercedes team principal, claims that his team is "many months" behind rivals Red Bull and Ferrari in car development.
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Toto Wolff, Mercedes team principal, claims that his team is “many months” behind rivals Red Bull and Ferrari in car development due to their emphasis on reducing porpoising with their car. After dealing with porpoising with their car throughout the season, the team finished third in the constructors’ title behind Red Bull and Ferrari. Mercedes eventually improved their performance and won the Brazilian Grand Prix, but Wolff believes they still have a lot of distance to make up on their competitors.
“We lost many months of development simply because we had to solve the porpoising problem before we could actually add performance back into the car,” Wolff explained. “Because whatever downforce we supplied went nowhere – the drivers couldn’t feel it, the car became even more erratic, and the bouncing became worse.” Given the six-month delay in putting performance on the car, it will be extremely tough to catch up to Ferrari and Red Bull.”
Honda presented Max Verstappen with a new Honda NSX Type S as a gift for winning the 2021 and 2022 Formula One world championships. Verstappen and Red Bull were powered by Honda to their first world championship title in 2021. While Verstappen successfully defended his title in 2022 with power units maintained by Red Bull, they were still designed and manufactured by Honda. Honda chairman Seiji Kuraishi presented Verstappen with a new NSX Type S as a token of appreciation for helping Honda win their first drivers’ championship in over 30 years at the Honda Thanks Day end-of-season celebrations at the Motegi circuit in Japan. “What a fantastic present. “It’s a wonderful car,” Verstappen stated before having a spin in it. “It makes me very proud, so thank you very much.”
In collaboration with Gran Turismo, Ferrari has unveiled a special Vision GT concept car that will be featured in the popular PlayStation racing game franchise. The Ferrari Vision Gran Turismo concept was created just for the game, making Ferrari the most recent manufacturer to create a Vision GT concept, joining Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, Nissan, Alpine, Aston Martin, and others. The concept has a V6 twin turbo engine, a three-motor hybrid system, an F1-style eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox, and a top speed of more than 350km/h. The car will be available for purchase in GT7 on December 23rd, with players who successfully complete an in-game quiz event based on the GT World Finals being able to purchase it on December 15th.
