Mercedes W13

[Mamba]

I'd be careful to judge the car based on this weekend. They were nowhere on Friday, in the wet FP3 they looked even worse and suddenly they came alive in Quali and the race. Red Bull also looked off pace on Friday and were suddenly in the hunt for pole on Saturday and on race day they were blindingly fast. Ferrari conversely went backward as the weekend progressed!

Merc themselves don't seem to fully know why the car suddenly found big pace. I suspect conditions, set-up etc by change just worked properly for once (like in Silverstone) and they had a fast car. That is the conclusion by many others too. They are improving yes, but this was a strange very changeable weekend where things just came to them. Lets see how they go post summer break.

[Just_a_fan]

I'd be careful to judge the car based on this weekend. They were nowhere on Friday, in the wet FP3 they looked even worse and suddenly they came alive in Quali and the race. Red Bull also looked off pace on Friday and were suddenly in the hunt for pole on Saturday and on race day they were blindingly fast. Ferrari conversely went backward as the weekend progressed!

Merc themselves don't seem to fully know why the car suddenly found big pace. I suspect conditions, set-up etc by change just worked properly for once (like in Silverstone) and they had a fast car. That is the conclusion by many others too. They are improving yes, but this was a strange very changeable weekend where things just came to them. Lets see how they go post summer break.

Yes, this year's car is very much a hot-and-cold device. A real diva, it seems. Hopefully the team are learning real lessons from the car and it means the W14 is a good one from the start. If not, they could be floundering like this for several years.

[The_Engineer]

Merc themselves don't seem to fully know why the car suddenly found big pace. I suspect conditions, set-up etc by change just worked properly for once (like in Silverstone) and they had a fast car. That is the conclusion by many others too. They are improving yes, but this was a strange very changeable weekend where things just came to them. Lets see how they go post summer break.

I struggle to believe the team do not see any correlation between the weekends, conditions, tracks etc. We've now been to 4 quite different circuits and Mercedes has looked strong in them all on race pace Silverstone, Austria, PR and Hungary.I think they use Friday to gather data, work out the window they need to operate in and set the car up accordingly. Qualifying is then a bit of a gamble as they rarely have the ultimate 1 lap pace.
Personally, I thought Mercedes were in with a shout in Q3 based on their first runs on used tyres. LH didn't get his second run in but GR did a great job.

[AA_2019]

As Mercedes chief technical officer James Allison said ahead of Hungarian race: "In terms of the upgrades themselves, yes, they are incremental steps, they are small steps that were added to the car, but the important point is we have plans to introduce far, far more across the races that follow.

We won’t be able in one go just to catch up and be with Ferrari and Red Bull. But hopefully, as you have seen across the season so far, we are incrementally closing that gap down and we have more to come"

Mod edit - personal attack removed

[SuperCNJ]

Does anyone know whether Mercs made a discovery on Friday evening after FP2 as Russell was alluding to? Have they discovered how to extract quali performance from the W13 now and any ideas what it might be?

[cplchanb]

Does anyone know whether Mercs made a discovery on Friday evening after FP2 as Russell was alluding to? Have they discovered how to extract quali performance from the W13 now and any ideas what it might be?

It's just like red bull last year at the US gp.... 1s down on merc after fp2... ends up with pole and win

[hollus]

Where have I seen this post before?

https://i.imgur.com/NVPF2Qz.png

This is the official Mercedes W13 car thread. The thread has been created to facilitate discussion specifically about the W13 car.

Please, ONLY discuss technical items of this car. Refrain from speculation.

General discussion about the team, its drivers and performance can be posted in the team thread.

Livery discussion also belongs in the 2022 Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team thread.

[Henri]

I think at spa merc will be the fastest..

[InsaneX_Badger]

I think at spa merc will be the fastest..

Honestly I don't believe it. It has been a fair amount of time since this TD has been out. If the top two were really doing this, they would have found a solution by now if it was that important to their car performance.

[Evo2racer]

Does anyone know whether Mercs made a discovery on Friday evening after FP2 as Russell was alluding to? Have they discovered how to extract quali performance from the W13 now and any ideas what it might be?

According to GR interview I believe they know something they don’t want to tell us!

Regardless, they changed all the setting completely on both W13 and the results showed for Qualy! Therefore it seems like a no brainer they know something. (My 2 cents)

[OO7]

Honestly I don't believe it. It has been a fair amount of time since this TD has been out. If the top two were really doing this, they would have found a solution by now if it was that important to their car performance.

I don't really see a solution other than losing whatever performance benefit it gave. It's a bit like the flexi rear wings last year when the load test was increased/changed.

[SuperCNJ]

I think at spa merc will be the fastest..

Honestly I don't believe it. It has been a fair amount of time since this TD has been out. If the top two were really doing this, they would have found a solution by now if it was that important to their car performance.

Well there's no need to implement a solution when the new rules have not kicked in. Reap the benefits of what you have already, until you're not allowed to. That way it gives them more time to finalise and develop the new solution.

[Mchamilton]

yeah, their setup is lower DF. Williams had a great S1 with even higher top speed today, 10kph above Ferrari. Being in lower DF today allowed teams to heat up tires properly so they were fast right away.

Merc were never in a low DF config this weekend, they had their OG barn door rear wing on and a bigger top flap on the front wing.

Everyone had a barn door wing. RUS was churning through tires.

There's no direct correlation between between downforce level and tyre wear is there so I don't see what your point is?

[Zynerji]

Merc were never in a low DF config this weekend, they had their OG barn door rear wing on and a bigger top flap on the front wing.

Everyone had a barn door wing. RUS was churning through tires.

There's no direct correlation between between downforce level and tyre wear is there so I don't see what your point is?

That is a shocking thing to read after years of interviews that talk of how low downforce levels correlate specifically to tyre degradation due to sliding...

[PhillipM]

Nope.

In anything remotely relevant to F1 terms?
Yes.