Mercedes W13

[mkay]

The car should be fast on the straights! Good for this overtaking formula.

Hello !

What specifically gives you that impression ?

I feel the same way looking at the car to be honest.

This car compared to the other big teams, as it stands, just has fewer drag creating pieces of bodywork.

The front of the sidepods are not very big. There's not much undercut to traverse.

The mid point of the aide pods have very smooth contours with no big direction changes.

Their available floor area is quite large and undisturbed, especially just after the undercut.

The rear of the sidepods is quite small.

All of which you'd assume would lead to a larger volume of, and less disturbed airflow to the rear of the car, for the aero elements there to use efficiently.

Basically, the car just doesn't have a draggy profile.

The key though is how to deal with the wake/drag from the front tyres; whilst the sidepods themselves are slim, it's questionable whether they can generate more outwash than wider sidepods.

[JPower]

From Reddit.

I imagine we'll see the sides opened up during the summer.

https://preview.redd.it/89d2g5iymlj81.j ... a5f65d96b6

is this pic from 2022? is it today?

Yes.

[AeroDynamic]

hopefully this supports peoples approximation of where the under-the-hood engineering is relative to the body exterior

[zibby43]

[GrizzleBoy]

Hello !

What specifically gives you that impression ?

I feel the same way looking at the car to be honest.

This car compared to the other big teams, as it stands, just has fewer drag creating pieces of bodywork.

The front of the sidepods are not very big. There's not much undercut to traverse.

The mid point of the aide pods have very smooth contours with no big direction changes.

Their available floor area is quite large and undisturbed, especially just after the undercut.

The rear of the sidepods is quite small.

All of which you'd assume would lead to a larger volume of, and less disturbed airflow to the rear of the car, for the aero elements there to use efficiently.

Basically, the car just doesn't have a draggy profile.

The key though is how to deal with the wake/drag from the front tyres; whilst the sidepods themselves are slim, it's questionable whether they can generate more outwash than wider sidepods.

Is that wake management directly related to overall drag and does the importance of the management of that wake still carry the same importance now that downforce creation is focused more below the car than above it?

What effect will the new front wheel strakes have on the wake?

[Sieper]

Quite impressive how they got everything to taper, and the huge floor surface next to the rear wheels because of it. They are more or less the only team that went for as much clear floor as you can get. With Mclaren a second. The rest all went with higher sidepods carrying on longer.

Curious to see what turns out to be the most beneficial. But it is clear a lot of thought has gone into this. Except for that bunch of white wires in the front of the sidepot

[Mchamilton]

the only one currently running inward pointing vortex generators on the wing adjusters. this means they want to generate more vortex

https://www.mercedesamgf1.com/content/d ... 299058.JPG

Why does it?
Surely it just means that is the genral direction of flow in that region.

If the vortex device is pointing inboard, then flow isn't inboard. Or at least it's unlikely. You want the VG to be "across" the flow in order for it to build up a pressure difference across it. The pressure difference is what causes the vortex as the air flows up and over from the high pressure side to the low pressure side.

The spanwise flow at the flap adjuster/VG is clearly going to be inboard

[dans79]

https://twitter.com/albertfabrega/statu ... 64897?s=21

https://twitter.com/albertfabrega/statu ... 40294?s=21

I personally find the brake inlets more interesting than the suspension set-up. RBR has a 50, 25, 25 split. While Merc has a 25, 25,25,25 split with the bottom outer one further subdivided. I wonder what Merc is doing with all those little subdivisions.

tinfoil hat people will say fluidic/thermal switch.

[Mchamilton]

https://twitter.com/albertfabrega/statu ... 64897?s=21

https://twitter.com/albertfabrega/statu ... 40294?s=21

I personally find the brake inlets more interesting than the suspension set-up. RBR has a 50, 25, 25 split. While Merc has a 25, 25,25,25 split with the bottom outer one further subdivided. I wonder what Merc is doing with all those little subdivisions.

tinfoil hat people will say fluidic/thermal switch.

Theres a 5th inlet on the RB above the square of 3

[dans79]

Theres a 5th inlet on the RB above the square of 3

I assume you mean 4th, but damn that was hard to see! I still want to know what all the little Merc ones are about though!

[Mchamilton]

Theres a 5th inlet on the RB above the square of 3

I assume you mean 4th, but damn that was hard to see! I still want to know what all the little Merc ones are about though!

Yeah sorry 4th

[AeroDynamic]

[Just_a_fan]

Why does it?
Surely it just means that is the genral direction of flow in that region.

If the vortex device is pointing inboard, then flow isn't inboard. Or at least it's unlikely. You want the VG to be "across" the flow in order for it to build up a pressure difference across it. The pressure difference is what causes the vortex as the air flows up and over from the high pressure side to the low pressure side.

The spanwise flow at the flap adjuster/VG is clearly going to be inboard

Really? Why?

[carisi2k]

imo, that is too concave

https://i.postimg.cc/T1wrGywD/W13-FL-XAxtccc.jpg

Care to explain? That shot is so blurry I'm having a hard time telling what I'm looking at.

to my understanding, racingcar bottom floor mostly are shaped like #1 or #2, either it is flat or convex, to maximize the ventury effect and create smooth flow transition ...... what I saw on W13, there is a concave curve before the end of the floor .... could it be they try to create a partially stalled flow ? (for some reason).... just like GMA T50

* forgive my english, this isnt my mother language

https://i.postimg.cc/Vvq8Zsy0/W13-GMA-T ... 135654.jpg

1. The T50 has a fan which helps in sucking the air up from a flat floor and reducing that boundary layer I believe.
2. These new F1 cars have venturi tunnels to feed that more concave diffuser.

[carisi2k]

With such dissimilar concepts, we are ALL wondering who got it wrong at this point...

What if nobody got it wrong?