2022 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[Big Tea]

Lewis was mashing the floor with wet tyres on, and slicks are thinner arn't they?

[djones]

Lewis was mashing the floor with wet tyres on, and slicks are thinner arn't they?

Even my wife (who does not follow F1) noticed this on the onboard, to the point she just laughed every time it went to Lewis.

How much can pressure change the ride height? For example, if a wet tyre has a slightly higher diameter (with equal pressure), will the wet on low pressure be the same as a dry on high pressure?

Probably not.

[Big Tea]

Lewis was mashing the floor with wet tyres on, and slicks are thinner arn't they?

Even my wife (who does not follow F1) noticed this on the onboard, to the point she just laughed every time it went to Lewis.

How much can pressure change the ride height? For example, if a wet tyre has a slightly higher diameter (with equal pressure), will the wet on low pressure be the same as a dry on high pressure?

Probably not.

The wet also has a few more mm of tread block compared to the slick. Even if its 10mm that means hitting the floor 10mm deeper. I don't think they are allowed to alter ride height after FP3 are they?

[chrisc90]

It does look to 'drop' a lot when the speed increases. Especially if you compare a standing photo with a driving photo on track at speed.

I wonder if this is part of the troubles they are having. Expecting fancy suspension that drops with aero stall to seal the floor. A lot of other teams floors still have a gap rather than scrape the floor like the merc does. Does it have the little 'wing' underneath to stop it dropping as far?

I reckon if they could get that car to run low, but the floor be a decent height off the ground rather than dragging along it, it could solve some of their issues.

[wogx]

WOLFF SLAMS ‘PITIFUL’ RIVALS AS FIA INTERVENTION ISSUE ESCALATES

Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff has accused “pitiful” rivals of being “disingenuous” and playing “political games” while the FIA tries to help address the worst traits of the 2022 cars.

The new ground-effect cars are run low and stiff and have suffered from a mix of porpoising and poor ride quality in general.

Now that several drivers from different teams have complained about back pain and raised concerns over potential long-term consequences of driving such cars, the FIA has intervened on safety grounds.

It will force teams to alter their set-ups if they are found to be breaching a yet-to-be-defined limit for vertical oscillations drivers can be subjected to, and is exploring potential changes to the technical regulations for the future.

Some teams, including Mercedes’ arch-rival Red Bull, have either criticised the prospect of a mid-season rule change, expressed disappointment at the timing of the FIA’s technical directive on the eve of the Canadian GP weekend, or accused Mercedes of using the issue to try to get a rule change that will help the performance deficit it currently suffers from.

The situation appears to have reached boiling point in Montreal, where Wolff is said to have made his dissatisfaction very clear in a meeting of F1’s team bosses.

He said after qualifying in Canada: “This is a sport where you’re trying to keep a competitive advantage or gain it, but this situation has clearly gone too far.

Read more:
https://the-race.com/formula-1/wolff-sl ... escalates/

[AR3-GP]

From my point of view, everyone is saying exactly what you would expect them to say, from all sides of the argument. Trust no one.

[chrisc90]

“He said after qualifying in Canada: “This is a sport where you’re trying to keep a competitive advantage or gain it, but this situation has clearly gone too far.“


Guess his last sentence summed his frustration up.
If the show was on another foot, he’d be lobbying against any changes without a doubt. Reading into that he’s angry because he can’t get the changes to make his team better ‘trying to gain an advantage’

Suck it ip Toto.

[continuum16]

After reading Wolff’s comments, here’s what I think:

Toto/Mercedes, propose a solution then. Don’t raise concerns about safety and then when the FIA tries to improve safety, say that it is not being done in the right way. What is the right way to do this in-season? To me, it’s clear that Mercedes’ hope is to get the suspension regulations changed in order to go back to a similar setup to their previous design. You’re not going to get the regulations changed mid-season. It will be 2023 at the earliest, and even that is on the verge of being too late now. So what do you want to do? I’m sure the FIA is all ears.

Also, I respect Toto and he’s one of the sharpest operators in the sport, but does it not seem odd to accuse people of lying or deliberately playing down the issue at hand and then going on to cite numerous public remarks from drivers which directly contradict this theory? And then to accuse people of playing “political games” with the media… what do you call this then? An “apolitical” unifying statement?

With each passing race, the team seems to make no progress on this issue, and the chances of chronic underperformance from 2023 onwards (due to a lack of understanding of the W13’s issues) increases. For the good of the sport and the team in general, I hope this is not the case but so far Barcelona is proving to be the exception, not the rule…

Also, I think the high profile of Mercedes is adding a lot of toxicity to this debate (not their fault, but undeniably a side effect of being, well, Mercedes). I think that Mercedes had the most obvious problems early on, and so that became their dominant narrative. Hence any comments from Toto, Lewis, George, etc. will be picked up by the media first, and any questions on the issue will be directed to them, even though they are not the only ones with this viewpoint.

Sorry we’re approaching rant territory

[siskue2005]

WOLFF SLAMS ‘PITIFUL’ RIVALS AS FIA INTERVENTION ISSUE ESCALATES

Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff has accused “pitiful” rivals of being “disingenuous” and playing “political games” while the FIA tries to help address the worst traits of the 2022 cars.

The new ground-effect cars are run low and stiff and have suffered from a mix of porpoising and poor ride quality in general.

Now that several drivers from different teams have complained about back pain and raised concerns over potential long-term consequences of driving such cars, the FIA has intervened on safety grounds.

It will force teams to alter their set-ups if they are found to be breaching a yet-to-be-defined limit for vertical oscillations drivers can be subjected to, and is exploring potential changes to the technical regulations for the future.

Some teams, including Mercedes’ arch-rival Red Bull, have either criticised the prospect of a mid-season rule change, expressed disappointment at the timing of the FIA’s technical directive on the eve of the Canadian GP weekend, or accused Mercedes of using the issue to try to get a rule change that will help the performance deficit it currently suffers from.

The situation appears to have reached boiling point in Montreal, where Wolff is said to have made his dissatisfaction very clear in a meeting of F1’s team bosses.

He said after qualifying in Canada: “This is a sport where you’re trying to keep a competitive advantage or gain it, but this situation has clearly gone too far.

Read more:
https://the-race.com/formula-1/wolff-sl ... escalates/

I agree, Mercedes have bend over back in the last 8 years, even helping Honda with engine issues (roumours)
Agreeing to all the demands Redbull put up like Engine freeze from 2022 first race onwards etc
Opening up the engine freeze since 2015 for everyone to catch up
They even decided to not to go ahead with the protest after AD 2021 in the name of the sport.
No wonder he is not happy, and has every right to say so.

[101FlyingDutchman]

What confuses me is that he hasn’t come out at all with their preferred solution. I understand you’re lobbying and in principle I would agree driver safety is paramount. Don’t think anyone disagrees. The FIA has picked it up quickly but somehow he’s not happy with the proposed solution. Which is his right of course, but what do you actually WANT

[siskue2005]

What confuses me is that he hasn’t come out at all with their preferred solution. I understand you’re lobbying and in principle I would agree driver safety is paramount. Don’t think anyone disagrees. The FIA has picked it up quickly but somehow he’s not happy with the proposed solution. Which is his right of course, but what do you actually WANT

Those details wont be made publicly, quite understandably

[wogx]

quite understandably

I wouldn't say so. Discussion about HALO was public. Porpoising also is dangerous for drivers, but in long term

[siskue2005]

quite understandably

I wouldn't say so. Discussion about HALO was public. Porpoising also is dangerous for drivers, but in long term

Halo was not a performance deferentiator

[101FlyingDutchman]

What confuses me is that he hasn’t come out at all with their preferred solution. I understand you’re lobbying and in principle I would agree driver safety is paramount. Don’t think anyone disagrees. The FIA has picked it up quickly but somehow he’s not happy with the proposed solution. Which is his right of course, but what do you actually WANT

Those details wont be made publicly, quite understandably

Then I suppose it’s not a leap to suggest that the proposed solution is also from a performance perspective wanted by Merc. Hence why other teams would object. Understandable in a competitive environment

[siskue2005]

What confuses me is that he hasn’t come out at all with their preferred solution. I understand you’re lobbying and in principle I would agree driver safety is paramount. Don’t think anyone disagrees. The FIA has picked it up quickly but somehow he’s not happy with the proposed solution. Which is his right of course, but what do you actually WANT

Those details wont be made publicly, quite understandably

Then I suppose it’s not a leap to suggest that the proposed solution is also from a performance perspective wanted by Merc. Hence why other teams would object. Understandable in a competitive environment

Thats about right
The bouncing also has a driver safety issue associated with its performance benefits
Hence teams who have it are pushing for to remove it and teams who don't have it are aginst it. Its all politics and have seen the same situation with the shoe was on the other foot from both sides. So no one is a saint