The 2022 Mercedes F1 car dubbed the W13 E Performance will make its debut on February 18, and while the biggest change will be on the aerodynamic side, one shouldn't forget that for the last eight years, it has also had the best engine. In fact, the HPP team at Brixworth has been making perhaps the best engines in F1 since the mid-90s when it helped Mika Hakkinen to win two world titles before Michael Schumacher and Ferrari started dominating in the 2000s. And ahead of what could be a four-year engine development freeze in F1, Mercedes and the team at HPP are preparing to unleash another "rocket engine" which could come with an upgraded turbocharger.
In 2022, while largely the engines are the same regulations-wise, there is one major change that is on the horizon. The addition of a 10 percent E10 biofuel mix in the overall fuel mixture needs some major changes to the internal combustion engine. Many teams have reported that this E10 biofuel will result in a loss of horsepower which could be as much as 80 bhp to the engines in 2021. For this, the teams have had to work not only with their engine suppliers but also fuel partners.
In 2021, particularly at the fag end of the season, the W12 was dubbed to have a rocket engine
Mercedes of course makes its own engines like Ferrari, Alpine, and Red Bull and has been working with Petronas towards recovering this horsepower. Ferrari has reportedly made gains in its 2022 engine thanks to Shell and now Mercedes could have gained another 20 bhp thanks to the combination of this new turbocharger and its new fuel.
Considering all the issues Mercedes had with reliability, not just with its own cars, but also its customers, in particular Williams and Aston Martin, it has also worked on the reliability of the engine. Notably, Lewis Hamilton was forced to take five engines instead of the permitted three. At the Brazilian GP, his last engine admittedly did give him a performance advantage but also resulted in grid penalties and financial costs for Mercedes. Valtteri Bottas was even worse last year as he used six engines.
