Mercedes W13

[cplchanb]

I don't know why Mercedes gave us those renders though. It's okay to get rid of certain details, but it's literally a completely different car compared to the real thing.

they probably rendered off of early design concepts. The PR dept doesnt get the latest and greatest drawings from engineering the day before launch.

[cplchanb]

The nose won't block your vision but the fact that you can't see the tip of the nose is the challenge. I guess the drivers have the big endplates to at least see their opponents front wings, though I doubt if they can see their own end-plates at all.

When was the last time a driver was able to see the tip of the nose ? or endplates for that matter.

I clumsily worded that. I meant it is more challenging now since the nose projects out further.
For the end-plates they are taller than the old ones so it might give the impression that a driver can see them, but I doubt it.

As Albon is quoted, its the wheel fairings that impede the vision, not the nose

[wowgr8]

The efficiency of this PU is absolutely mind blowing. The exits are almost nonexistent and that's without any additional cooling from the louvres. The ones at the rear of the Ferrari are roughly this size but the Ferrari makes use of the louvres

[Fede90]

https://i.imgur.com/JKFW9H4.jpg

The floor on the W13 looks way more complex and detailed than any other car we've seen so far. I thought such solutions are banned by the current regs to make the air more clean. The question is. Did Mercedes find a loophole or the other teams are not showing their real floors yet?

Ferrari in all championships presented the cars as they are, without camouflage or fake assets.
Probably Mecedes focused all their time to develop an efficient floor.

[Hoffman900]

https://i.imgur.com/qubUPIS.jpeg

The efficiency of this PU is absolutely mind blowing. The exits are almost nonexistent and that's without any additional cooling from the louvres. The ones at the rear of the Ferrari are roughly this size but the Ferrari makes use of the louvres

I think it’s to be seen if they close some of them up. Mclaren and Mercedes clearly have panels where they can add them.

[matt_s]

Looks like the Merc has the 'y250' vortex generators (wing supports) oriented to shed in the opposite direction to the other cars we've seen.

[dans79]

Probably Mecedes focused all their time to develop an efficient floor.

That would be the best place to do it. In 2020 & 2021 a lot of the top designers said the floor is where the most gains would come from.

[LM10]

https://i.imgur.com/qubUPIS.jpeg

The efficiency of this PU is absolutely mind blowing. The exits are almost nonexistent and that's without any additional cooling from the louvres. The ones at the rear of the Ferrari are roughly this size but the Ferrari makes use of the louvres

On the other side, the airbox of the Mercedes is double the size of Ferrari’s.

[PlatinumZealot]

Vortices visible being shed from under the wing (looks like to manage tire wake out), and along the floor (probably to seal).

https://i.imgur.com/65OkElz.jpg

Those are not vortices. I see everyone saying that, but they are not. At least I have never seen any qualified person say that before.

That's just the water kick-up from the contract patch among a chaos of things happening. It is affected by a mish-mash of the vortices and outwash and the tyre wake itself, but the vorticity is not strong enough to imprint itself cleanly on those heavy water droplets from the tyre. So yes, the vortex is inside there somewhere, but that spray is not cleanly representing the vortex there.

You will see those waves of water spray on pretty much any car. In F1 yeah there is some vortex interaction involved int he spray, but liquid water is very heavy! Trust me when you see the vortices in the videos you will know.. You won't see it in heavy water droplets coming from the tyre though. You will see the vortices easier with smoke or water vapour.

Like here:

Article on f1technical:
https://www.f1technical.net/features/21854



Rear wing vortex pair in wake highlighted by blown Ferrari engine in Felipe Nasr’s Sauber C35, source: https://media.giphy.com/media/3o6EhRHS3 ... /giphy.gif



Forty seconds in here to see the floor vortex:

[PlatinumZealot]

When was the last time a driver was able to see the tip of the nose ? or endplates for that matter.

I clumsily worded that. I meant it is more challenging now since the nose projects out further.
For the end-plates they are taller than the old ones so it might give the impression that a driver can see them, but I doubt it.

As Albon is quoted, its the wheel fairings that impede the vision, not the nose

Sigh. I give up. I never said that...Carry on.

[Hoffman900]

Vortices visible being shed from under the wing (looks like to manage tire wake out), and along the floor (probably to seal).

https://i.imgur.com/65OkElz.jpg

Those are not vortices. I see everyone saying that, but they are not. At least I have never seen any qualified person say that before.

That's just the water kick-up from the contract patch among a chaos of things happening. It is affected by a mish-mash of the vortices and outwash and the tyre wake itself, but the vorticity is not strong enough to imprint itself cleanly on those heavy water droplets from the tyre. So yes, the vortex is inside there somewhere, but that spray is not cleanly representing the vortex there.

You will see those waves of water spray on pretty much any car. In F1 yeah there is some vortex interaction involved int he spray, but liquid water is very heavy! Trust me when you see the vortices in the videos you will know.. You won't see it in heavy water droplets coming from the tyre though. You will see the vortices easier with smoke or water vapour.

Like here:

Article on f1technical:
https://www.f1technical.net/features/21854

https://media.giphy.com/media/3o6EhRHS3 ... /giphy.gif

Rear wing vortex pair in wake highlighted by blown Ferrari engine in Felipe Nasr’s Sauber C35, source: https://media.giphy.com/media/3o6EhRHS3 ... /giphy.gif

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TZ9lFtV9W88/U ... rtices.png

Forty seconds in here to see the floor vortex:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kosEVglKJvc

This. Someone shared a photo of a previous Mercedes and it’s the same pattern and to a lesser degree on other Formula classes in the rain.

[LM10]

I have loved looking at all the new cars and it's been great to see the range of innovations etc.

I think the fact that this car looks simple and refined could be a big concern. It's the opposite of 'The Homer' that Ferrari has launched where they have thrown loads of things at the car that do not actually seem to really fit together.

This just looks assured, like they know it will will work without any desperate gimmick, although there are some very nice little details on the front of the floor etc. Although we have no idea until Q3 in Bahrain where the real speed is.

we all know what overengineering does... the 2013 to 15 mercs were FAST yet did not have the crazy louvers, slats and trickeries other teams wasted their time and money at for little gain. It was only in 2016 when there was diminishing returns did merc go all out with their sawtooth bargeboard. Look at 2017... the ferrari had so many innovative designs yet merc mopped them all up and it took until 2020 for them to finally do the high inlet design...

Merc essentially had a 2 year head start. They were already designing this car in 2019 while most were still trying to catch up to them...

Mercedes’ PU was on another level starting into the hybrid era. It was like others had F2 engines. That gave them several years of a head start and made work for aero easier.
In 2017, the only reason Ferrari lost, when talking of raw pace, was the Mercedes PU.

[AeroDynamic]

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/russe ... 91/?nrt=54

"The car handled I would say largely as we expected, but equally with these conditions, in the wet and with the wind, there's not a huge amount you can take with it," Russell said.

“It was very much in line with what we saw simulator, and I will be going back and correlating this afternoon.

"So far, we're in a good place, and I think we're in a good window ahead of Barcelona."

“It was very much in line with what we saw simulator, and I will be going back and correlating this afternoon."

[DiogoBrand]

What's interesting to me is that what worked for 2021 still seems to work to a large degree. We have innovative designs like Ferrari and Aston, but some teams like Mercedes and McLaren have sidepods that could easily have come straight from last year.
I'm still waiting to see if there's gonna be some silver bullet like 2009 but so far it doesn't look like it.

[AeroDynamic]

What's interesting to me is that what worked for 2021 still seems to work to a large degree. We have innovative designs like Ferrari and Aston, but some teams like Mercedes and McLaren have sidepods that could easily have come straight from last year.
I'm still waiting to see if there's gonna be some silver bullet like 2009 but so far it doesn't look like it.

I don't think we will have a 2009 because of a silver bullet. Just one team who lands on their feet and jets because through fortune or preparation and design, they make their tyres and car aero work as intended and its enough. If everyone has different gremlins we might see a mix up until the first team makes it work better, or the team with the best car gets it working and dominates the season.