Mercedes W14

[taperoo2k]

The car is not a W14B guys. It is the same chassis. The upgrades are all standard fare.

This about as close as you can get to a B spec car in the cost cap era. The changes to the cooling systems probably entailed modifications to the chassis to ensure the repackaging of the cooling systems didn't impact the performance or reliability of the Power Unit and other systems. Rather than a B spec car, I guess you could argue that the W14 is a development platform/test mule for the 2024 car.

This would entail a new crash test (certainly for side impact, possibly for rear), whatever they have done at the front of the chassis to cater for the new suspension mount positions I bet that they have done everything possible to avoid a fresh round of crash tests. Budget cap and all that…

I guess it's more likely they modified the cooling system and other parts to fit within the existing chassis structure and mounting points to avoid a new round of crash tests. They've probably got some leeway to play with when it comes to repositioning the mounting positions to allow for suspension upgrades during the season without the need for crash tests on the front end. As I said this is probably the closet we'll get to a B spec car in the cost cap era.

[El_KaPpa]

What a difference between the driving positions.

PS. Unconfirmed information going around that in Barcelona or Silverstone, Mercedes is bringing a whole new floor, new fence, new diffuser and a revamped underside shape.

[Stu]

What a difference between the driving positions.

PS. Unconfirmed information going around that in Barcelona or Silverstone, Mercedes is bringing a whole new floor, new fence, new diffuser and a revamped underside shape.

https://i.ibb.co/F5J5sRZ/20230531-101416.jpg

Much of that difference is due to Mercedes choosing to ‘pinch’ the rear of the main chassis section in to allow a more central location for the main cooling system. The volume taken out has to go somewhere!! The forward location will also have an impact on packaging in front of the drivers feet.

[AMG.Tzan]

What a difference between the driving positions.

PS. Unconfirmed information going around that in Barcelona or Silverstone, Mercedes is bringing a whole new floor, new fence, new diffuser and a revamped underside shape.

https://i.ibb.co/F5J5sRZ/20230531-101416.jpg

They were talking about a whole new underbody for Imola too but it ended up being just the fences!

I would imagine you can’t just bring new fences without a new floor…so apparently there isn’t a new floor coming to Spain! On the other hand with so many changes on the car and since they said they want to run the car lower to the ground they surely will need a new floor to do this…won’t they?

Let’s wait and see tomorrow…

[Giando]

Interestingly, the new sidepods intakes are somehow an inverted concept compared to Redbull's.

In fact the upper part of the intake (kind-of keeping somehow the original 'wing' concept from 2022, probably to avoid moving the side impact cone position) is far longer than the lower edge, which is something you cannot really work on too much under previous regulations since the shadow-plate rule demanded to 'copy' the same shape at floor level.



Now with the long ground effect floors extended towards the front of the car this is possible.

[PlatinumZealot]

This is no b-car peeps. A floor, sidepods and front suspension has been done many times before.

It's lietrally the same car and the same chassis. No new chassis was built as you can tell by the vestigial mid-wing and undesireable seating positiin.

[scuderiabrandon]

This is no b-car peeps. A floor, sidepods and front suspension has been done many times before.

It's lietrally the same car and the same chassis. No new chassis was built as you can tell by the vestigial mid-wing and undesireable seating positiin.

I guess scrap the term "B-Spec" then because this is as big of a change as we'll see under cost cap

[Giando]

This is no b-car peeps. A floor, sidepods and front suspension has been done many times before.

It's lietrally the same car and the same chassis. No new chassis was built as you can tell by the vestigial mid-wing and undesireable seating positiin.

I see, and you're right somehow.
But i guess it's just a code-name we can decide to use to define the revised car.
For example, back in 1994 the revised Ferrari 412 T1 was named T1/b. The chassis didn't change.
They just cut out a part of the sidepod air intakes which seemed to be integrated in the actual monocoque.
Same thing for (again) 1994 Williams Fw16... which was modified into a Fw16b version but kept the very same chassis and changed the aero of sidepods again by smoothing and reshaping the carbon where air intakes connected to the monocoque...

[Luscion]

What a difference between the driving positions.

PS. Unconfirmed information going around that in Barcelona or Silverstone, Mercedes is bringing a whole new floor, new fence, new diffuser and a revamped underside shape.

https://i.ibb.co/F5J5sRZ/20230531-101416.jpg

They were talking about a whole new underbody for Imola too but it ended up being just the fences!

I would imagine you can’t just bring new fences without a new floor…so apparently there isn’t a new floor coming to Spain! On the other hand with so many changes on the car and since they said they want to run the car lower to the ground they surely will need a new floor to do this…won’t they?

Let’s wait and see tomorrow…

I was wondering about this too, people who know more about these things, can you upgrade the fences without the whole floor? Their new floor fence was introduced at Monaco so surely they won't do another new fence one GP later right?

[VacuousFlamboyant]

This is no b-car peeps. A floor, sidepods and front suspension has been done many times before.

It's lietrally the same car and the same chassis. No new chassis was built as you can tell by the vestigial mid-wing and undesireable seating positiin.

I see, and you're right somehow.
But i guess it's just a code-name we can decide to use to define the revised car.
For example, back in 1994 the revised Ferrari 412 T1 was named T1/b. The chassis didn't change.
They just cut out a part of the sidepod air intakes which seemed to be integrated in the actual monocoque.
Same thing for (again) 1994 Williams Fw16... which was modified into a Fw16b version but kept the very same chassis and changed the aero of sidepods again by smoothing and reshaping the carbon where air intakes connected to the monocoque...

Little can be done to the beak as reshaping the underside of the chassi to allow more air into the venturi entries while shaving some weight would need homologation. That's a costly and tedious process. On the other hand, the floor area around the gearbox, before the diffuser, can be shrinked to envelop the piece as seen in the RB19. The seating position can tweaked a few centimeters. Let's see.

[Just_a_fan]

This is no b-car peeps. A floor, sidepods and front suspension has been done many times before.

It's lietrally the same car and the same chassis. No new chassis was built as you can tell by the vestigial mid-wing and undesireable seating positiin.

I guess scrap the term "B-Spec" then because this is as big of a change as we'll see under cost cap

Some have suggested that this is the real W14 and the previous thing we saw was more like W13B. There is some sense in that view, although it all comes down to what Mercedes call it. If they don't call the new version W14B then it isn't a B-spec car.

[AR3-GP]

b-spec semantics.

[Venturiation]

James allison says more upgrades are coming in barcelona and more after that
they got high quality pics of the redbull floor to analyse by their aero departement

[AR3-GP]

James allison says more upgrades are coming in barcelona and more after that
they got high quality pics of the redbull floor to analyse by their aero departement

His comment that "we can't afford to do things sequentially because while academic, it's too slow" is interesting. Merc development of the past has often been infrequent, but large.

[deadhead]

James allison says more upgrades are coming in barcelona and more after that
they got high quality pics of the redbull floor to analyse by their aero departement

His comment that "we can't afford to do things sequentially because while academic, it's too slow" is interesting. Merc development of the past has often been infrequent, but large.

That might be dictated by the position they are in, for example, starting the season with a dominant car allows for a more "sequential" approach, but when you are behind and chasing, a faster cadence could be the way.