Mercedes has quickly quashed a claim that their 2022 Formula 1 car failed an FIA crash test.
On Sunday, a report by Motorsport Italy stated the Brackley-based team had attempted to pass an extreme design concept for the W13 but had fallen foul of a side impact test.
As a result, Mercedes had to "resort to Plan B" for the car which will be officially launched and shaken down at Silverstone on February 18.
On Monday, however, the team took a cheeky dig at the rumour with a tweet confirming the W13 had been given the green light by the FIA in mid-January.
Coming soon. 👀 W13 completed full FIA homologation on 13 January 😉 pic.twitter.com/f6SditO95o
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) January 31, 2022
The Mercedes situation comes after Motorsport Italy stated Red Bull is also having to adapt their RB18 as the original nose design would have failed the FIA's frontal crash test.
While the team of new world champion Max Verstappen has not responded, the publication stated the problem was not of concern to chief technical officer Adrian Newey and his team.
There is a question over just how competitive Red Bull will be to start the 2022 season after being the last team to put all their attention and resources into the all-new regulations.
In fact, Alex Albon, who was reserve and development driver last year, recently claimed he spent more time working on the 2021 car in the simulator during the final few races of last season than he did on this year's design.
“Albon’s statements were misinterpreted,” Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko told F1 Insider.
“All I can say is that we want to defend Max Verstappen’s title and are very well positioned to do so.
“We had two different development programs running in 2021. Both worked.”
Whether this year's big changes will result in a repeat of the Mercedes vs Red Bull duel in 2022 remains to be seen...
