Mercedes W13

[ringo]

some info on optical sensors in f1

https://www.sourcesensors.com/news/f1 ... than-gps/

https://metanewbuzz.com/the-glowing-li ... y-plan/

The sensor, which emits a light when switched on, measures the ride height and the car’s trajectory in relation to the track, so can be used to deliver answers on what exactly is happening on straights and in corners.

correvit sensor:

[media] [/media]

[e30ernest]

I also felt that it was hot metal, but the Mark Hughes article does change things. Mark usually gets his information from the horse's mouth and if it's being published on Formula1.com, it's likely been vetted. He's probably just asked the Mercedes engineers what it is and they've told him. It might actually be a sensor.

With that said, the placement is a bit strange. Given that the front of the t-tray showers sparks down the floor of the car as it scrapes the ground, it would ruin any optical measurements.

It is a sensor and its been used for years. Not the first time i am seeing it.
It may well be a camera with a lamp. That camera can be IR to detect track temperature, it can be recording the roughness of the track to help with their flow analysis, it can be recording ground speed and yaw of the car relative to the track. Who knows. But it's something i have seen in testing for years.

I do not think it is metal glowing. The air would cool it really fast. also if this is not a steel part, i dont think white metal would glow so much.

So the sensor coincidentally only happened to be turn on while the car was heavily sparking, for very short period of time on lap 31 and was not used at any other point during the entire Grand Prix....! Nah, I don't think so. The Red Bull has done the same at other events as well, with the glow only visible after significant and prolonged contact with the track surface.

My theory here is that if this is a sensor that can be turned on or off, they are probably turning it on when porpoising happens. And this generally happens down the straight when the car is at the lowest ride height. So the sparks are not the cause of the glow, but rather the sensor is being used at a time sparks are occurring.

[ringo]

I also felt that it was hot metal, but the Mark Hughes article does change things. Mark usually gets his information from the horse's mouth and if it's being published on Formula1.com, it's likely been vetted. He's probably just asked the Mercedes engineers what it is and they've told him. It might actually be a sensor.

With that said, the placement is a bit strange. Given that the front of the t-tray showers sparks down the floor of the car as it scrapes the ground, it would ruin any optical measurements.

It is a sensor and its been used for years. Not the first time i am seeing it.
It may well be a camera with a lamp. That camera can be IR to detect track temperature, it can be recording the roughness of the track to help with their flow analysis, it can be recording ground speed and yaw of the car relative to the track. Who knows. But it's something i have seen in testing for years.

I do not think it is metal glowing. The air would cool it really fast. also if this is not a steel part, i dont think white metal would glow so much.

So the sensor coincidentally only happened to be turn on while the car was heavily sparking, for very short period of time on lap 31 and was not used at any other point during the entire Grand Prix....! Nah, I don't think so. The Red Bull has done the same at other events as well, with the glow only visible after significant and prolonged contact with the track surface.

too cynical a thought.

[AR3-GP]

I'm inclined to just agree with Mark Hughes. It's a sensor. Only because it's highly likely that he was directly informed about it.

[ringo]

Well it's been in the sport for years.
Never once thought it was glowing metal. Metal just wouldnt glow for so long with such little energy put into it.

[OO7]

I'm inclined to just agree with Mark Hughes. It's a sensor. Only because it's highly likely that he was directly informed about it.

You're free to believe whatever you wish AR3-GP, but Mark Hughes has been wrong many times before. I'd be more interested in Scarbs' opinion, provided he's aware of all the information/footage available.

[OO7]

Well it's been in the sport for years.
Never once thought it was glowing metal. Metal just wouldnt glow for so long with such little energy put into it.

You must have missed it happening to the Red Bull's in the previous GPs this year, in exactly the same way as it occurred on the Mercedes i.e after significant sparking.

[Andi76]

I think it was also Mark Hughes who said its its too much of a coiincident that the teams suffering most of porpoising are the teams which use the Mercedes gearbox. He thinks there may be some clue in that just in terms of where the mechanical packaging is and where the centre of gravity heights are and where that imposes the stall point and where that is relative to the wheelbase.

I think he is right about that and i agree that its too much of a coincident that those three teams are all struggling with the exact same problem. But i also think that porpoising is exaggerated and none of these three teams would suddenly find a lot of pace when they solve this problem. Ferrari is also still experiencing porpoising, but the Ferrari is also the best&fastest car. So i do not think there is much pace to be found in solving the porpoising issue. If you talk to experienced engineers of the first ground effect era they tell you that porpoising was always something to be there. The secret is to get it under control without loosing a lot of downforce. That may be the reason why Mercedes decided to not bring any updates as they wanted to do in the first place. They may have realised that its not about getting rid of it, but how to get it under control without loosing a lot of downforce.

[bonjon1979]

So weight loss could be the silver bullet as once they’re under weight they’d be able to start moving ballast around to counteract?

[miguelalvesreis]

It is definitely a sensor. And if you could only spot it in a moment in the race then maybe you were not paying enough attention. it was pretty distinguable several times.

And check this out
Motorsport.com: The glowing light that offered clues about Mercedes’ F1 recovery plan.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/the- ... 35076/amp/

Enviado do meu RMX3241 através do Tapatalk

[pursue_one's]

[saviour stivala]

‘’The glowing light that offered clues about mercedes F1 recovery plan’’. Yes no doubt it is a ride height sensor glowing light onto the tarmac. But ‘’it being a clue to mercedes recovery?’’ mercedes will greatly speed-up their recovery only if they carry out two things, Produce a new competitive chasses, and claw back their fuel ‘CHIMCAL’ disadvantage.

[OO7]

It is definitely a sensor. And if you could only spot it in a moment in the race then maybe you were not paying enough attention. it was pretty distinguable several times.

And check this out
Motorsport.com: The glowing light that offered clues about Mercedes’ F1 recovery plan.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/the- ... 35076/amp/

Enviado do meu RMX3241 através do Tapatalk

I was definitely paying attention as I've stated a number of times thus far (Your response informs me that you haven't actually reviewed the footage yourself.) and I'd already seen that article, as it's the same one I stated was incorrect about the light. I don't disagree that Hamilton's car was carrying additional sensors, however I do disagree that the glow was being emitted from one of them.

[OO7]

I was aware of that tweet on the day it was posted.

[MattWellsyWells]

I saw this light and initially thought it was glowing hot metal because that has been seen on cars before and appeared to coincide with sparking. However, I think it is only usually seen at night races. I can't imagine the metal getting hot enough to glow so brightly on a sunny day as this Sunday was. I also noticed it on multiple laps down the front straight and it could be seen all the way down to turn 3. I don't think glowing metal would stay that hot for that long. For example, I'm pretty sure glowing brakes lose their glow pretty quickly even through low speed corners.