Mercedes have released photos of the aero update to the cars ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, highlighting an added shark fin to the car. The team originally opted to add the controversial fin to their car, but they’ve done it right.
One of the biggest frustrations with the 2017 car has been seeing teams like Sauber, Force India and Red Bull miss the opportunity to effectively use the added space created by the extra shark fin. These teams have basically just glued a plain piece of carbon fiber onto the engine cover, not bothering to take the time to develop a livery that would incorporate the added space for advertising or just to expand their design.
I briefly touched on this point in my Are the shark fins really that bad article late last month when I mentions that only a handful of teams actually used the shark fin to make their livery look better. Teams like Toro Rosso and Williams were really the only teams to use the extra space effectively. Even Haas, whose livery I despise because it doesn’t blend with the rest of the livery, made an effort.
That’s why it’s great to see Mercedes do the shark fin right. The fin itself isn’t anything special, as it’s pretty much just a copy of one of the two fin designs used this season by teams like Sauber and Haas. However, the livery on it is brilliant!
Each shark fin has the driver color, name, number and national flag stuck on it. That idea, although pretty simple, is exactly the sort of thing that I wanted to see the shark fins used for. As an added bonus, the livery design fits in perfectly with the new regulations that were discussed at the strategy group meeting at the end of April regarding more visible numbers, which is the main reason for the livery change on the Mercedes.
Some of the other teams have also revealed similar livery changes, just none like the Mercedes with the country flag and the unique driver color.
INSIGHT: The Barcelona #F1 upgrade everyone’s talking about…
Read more ?? https://t.co/Ugb2ZRqGso#SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/6gUcbqH4Dn
— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) May 10, 2017
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