Why abandoning zeropods brought no immediate F1 gain for Mercedes

After more than a season of Mercedes going it alone in pursuit of its zeropod concept, it finally abandoned the idea as it pursued the growing trend for what has become known as the downwash solution. 

The fact that Red Bull had been so successful from the off with its downwash design inevitably prompted suggestions that Mercedes’ change of tack would bring some immediate and automatic gains. 

However, the reality of Formula 1 car design…