Intrigue over mysterious Mercedes blue wires and Ferrari nose ‘dimple’

Mercedes’ brand-new W14 was spotted featuring exposed blue wires fitted behind the steering wheel as George Russell was driving during the first test session at Sakhir on Thursday.

The blue wires were also seen on footage released by Mercedes from their recent shakedown at Silverstone.

A Mercedes spokesperson confirmed to Crash.net that the wires are used for “data logging” and feed into a number of different areas. These can be used for monitoring vibration and bouncing.

Mercedes’ W13 car was famously plagued by severe porpoising and bouncing issues for most of 2022 but the team hope to have put the problems fully behind them with their modified 2023 challenger.

Another common question is, what is the cable on the #W14 ? Thanks to followers here on @scarbstech we can confirm:
It leads to a tiny accelerometer on the steering wheel to measure vibration.
While its not unusual for teams to add sensors in 'testing'.
Keep this in mind... pic.twitter.com/YWLj7rTQfl

— Craig Scarborough (@ScarbsTech) February 22, 2023

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff confirmed there was “no bouncing” on the W14 so far on the first day of running.

“We had a little bit of movement I think in Turn 12, but not anywhere close to the degree that we had last year and not performance limiting,” he added.

Ferrari’s ‘dimple’ nose

Eagle-eyed viewers also noticed Ferrari’s nose bending slightly as Carlos Sainz drove down the main straight.

Sky Sports F1 pitlane reporter Ted Kravitz confirmed the deforming under high speed was “not intentional”.

Kravitz added Ferrari are working to fix what he described as being a ‘dimple’ nose.

| The nose of Ferrari's SF-23 gains a 'dimple' under high speed, but then returns to its normal shape under braking.

pic.twitter.com/wbh8iqN6jl

— Ferrari News (@FanaticsFerrari) February 23, 2023