The gear ratios are an underrated aspect of each car, especially when looking at end of straight speeds on long DRS straights. RB runs a pretty long 8th gear, and Merc has one of the shortest. This usually evens out time-wise over a lap but can impact speed trap results.organic wrote: ↑04 Mar 2023, 23:31I don't think the gear ratios are making nearly as much difference as aero The AMR car has to be weak in some places otherwise it would be the top of the timing. Reality is that its efficiency doesn't match up to RB/Ferrari who have been in an efficiency development race for 12 months - it's not surprisingCs98 wrote: ↑04 Mar 2023, 23:30You also need to take into account the unusually short gear ratios on the Merc (and AM). It's a benefit on the 3 shorter straights since they can easily push eight gear whilst RB stays in 7th, but it's a negative on the long straight.organic wrote: ↑04 Mar 2023, 23:28
We're talking about where they can be closer to the fastest car, not where they'll be in the overall pecking order. Their top speed was 319 kp/h whilst having less performance than RB in the high speed corners who were hitting 323-325.
I agree that Bahrain is a power circuit relative to most, that's part of why AMR are so good at Bahrain. The straights are short enough such that it doesn't make that weakness so obvious
I also think the AM ran slightly more wing, their wing is very comparable to the second wing RB tried in testing, the medium-high wing.
Well the AM is not as fast in high speed corners, it doesn't have as much floor DF.