2023 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[AR3-GP]

Violation is 1mm of wear and Ferrari was off by few tenths of a mm, Merc likely the same. This is squarely in the s— happens category.

You folks are blowing this way out of proportion.

The relationship is not 1:1. It's a titanium skid block after all.

Tenths of a mm in skid wear does not mean the car only needed to be raised an equivalent "tenths of a mm" which is basically what you are trying to suggest.

It doesn't work like that. The relationship between ride height and plank wear is non-linear.

[mwillems]

Violation is 1mm of wear and Ferrari was off by few tenths of a mm, Merc likely the same. This is squarely in the s— happens category.

You folks are blowing this way out of proportion.

Do you have a source for the test measurement results?

[dialtone]

Violation is 1mm of wear and Ferrari was off by few tenths of a mm, Merc likely the same. This is squarely in the s— happens category.

You folks are blowing this way out of proportion.

The relationship is not 1:1. It's a titanium skid block after all.

tenths of a mm in skid wear does not mean the car only needed to be raised an equivalent "tenths of a mm". It doesn't work like that. The relationship between ride height and plank wear is non-linear.

I didn’t say that it is. It’s still a tiny violation and you folks are talking as if the car was half shaved like a wedge of parmesan cheese. It is what it is, fia should have checked all floors too.

[dialtone]

Violation is 1mm of wear and Ferrari was off by few tenths of a mm, Merc likely the same. This is squarely in the s— happens category.

You folks are blowing this way out of proportion.

Do you have a source for the test measurement results?

Duchessa on his twitter account

[AR3-GP]

Violation is 1mm of wear and Ferrari was off by few tenths of a mm, Merc likely the same. This is squarely in the s— happens category.

You folks are blowing this way out of proportion.

The relationship is not 1:1. It's a titanium skid block after all.

tenths of a mm in skid wear does not mean the car only needed to be raised an equivalent "tenths of a mm". It doesn't work like that. The relationship between ride height and plank wear is non-linear.

I didn’t say that it is. It’s still a tiny violation and you folks are talking as if the far was half shaved like a wedge of parmisan. It is what it is, fia should have checked all floors too.

You are right. Tenths of a millimeter is small, but when you consider potentially how much additional ground clearance would be required to prevent that "tenths of a millimeter" violation, then it may well be an important performance differentiator.

[dialtone]

The relationship is not 1:1. It's a titanium skid block after all.

tenths of a mm in skid wear does not mean the car only needed to be raised an equivalent "tenths of a mm". It doesn't work like that. The relationship between ride height and plank wear is non-linear.

I didn’t say that it is. It’s still a tiny violation and you folks are talking as if the far was half shaved like a wedge of parmisan. It is what it is, fia should have checked all floors too.

You are right. Tenths of a millimeter is small, but when you consider potentially how much additional ground clearance would be required to prevent that "tenths of a millimeter" violation, then it may well be an important performance differentiator.

What would have changed? Max race pace on Saturday was still 1s clear. They could have done a thousand things to resolve the issue had they known about it, short weekend prevented it.

[AR3-GP]

I didn’t say that it is. It’s still a tiny violation and you folks are talking as if the far was half shaved like a wedge of parmisan. It is what it is, fia should have checked all floors too.

You are right. Tenths of a millimeter is small, but when you consider potentially how much additional ground clearance would be required to prevent that "tenths of a millimeter" violation, then it may well be an important performance differentiator.

What would have changed? Max race pace on Saturday was still 1s clear. They could have done a thousand things to resolve the issue had they known about it, short weekend prevented it.

I know that the sprint weekend nonsense is the reason for it, but still Mclaren was in a fight with Mercedes and Ferrari so it matters to them.

[mwillems]

You are right. Tenths of a millimeter is small, but when you consider potentially how much additional ground clearance would be required to prevent that "tenths of a millimeter" violation, then it may well be an important performance differentiator.

What would have changed? Max race pace on Saturday was still 1s clear. They could have done a thousand things to resolve the issue had they known about it, short weekend prevented it.

I know that the sprint weekend nonsense is the reason for it, but still Mclaren was in a fight with Mercedes and Ferrari so it matters to them.

Speaking as a Mclaren fan, I'm just fine with this outcome

I am curious to see what happens in the next few races in terms of pace though. The importance to me is the rate at which teams may catch Mclaren, we can't have the in-season development war all our own way, of course.

[dans79]

Not really. The parts of the plank that are measured are made of titanium. And the holes they use auto measure them are huge.

It takes consistent wear to grind these down, not just a bad hit at a bad angle. You won't find any precedent for that.

The holes are big but the actual surface area of the titanium plates is small. Not to mention titanium is soft and not very wear resistant.

They used to be made of metal (probably a hardened tool steel), but the FIA mandated they be titanium for 2015 onwards. Back then press reported it was for the sparks, and the FIA responded to the backlash saying it was for safety.....

[AR3-GP]

I'm pretty sure Organic posted a tweet from a former F1 engineer which suggested that the violation in the area that was cited was not something likely to come from an errant curb strike, but rather a systematic ground clearance issue.

Anyone thinking that a single bad kerb strike is taking disqualifying levels of wear out of the plank is not correct. It doesn't work like that. Cars must have done near 100 laps on the circuit hitting all manner of the bumps at all possible angles. It's a wear that occurs over time from the back of the car sitting too low to avoid it.

[dans79]

Anyone thinking that a single bad kerb strike is taking disqualifying levels of wear out of the plank is not correct. It doesn't work like that. Cars must have done near 100 laps on the circuit hitting all manner of the bumps at all possible angles. It's a wear that occurs over time.

who said anything about one hit?

[AR3-GP]

Anyone thinking that a single bad kerb strike is taking disqualifying levels of wear out of the plank is not correct. It doesn't work like that. Cars must have done near 100 laps on the circuit hitting all manner of the bumps at all possible angles. It's a wear that occurs over time.

who said anything about one hit?

I was referring to this on the previous page:

At the end of the day, Mercedes would have had to raise their car or run stiffer suspension to reduce the plank wear. This would have changed the performance picture.

The pictures of Merc vs RB vs Ferrari are only a tangential discussion point.

This is assuming that it wasn't due to exceeding track limits as Dans79 is rightly pointing out. Scraping it 2 or 3 times over the kerbs on an already bumpy track would do it.
Cars that naturally run lower would have an optimum set up and then fall at risk to this for the simple reason there wasn't enough running time to make those small adjustments.

The rule is pretty clear.

A minimum thickness of 9mm will be accepted due to wear, and conformity to this provision will be checked at the peripheries of the designated holes

All it takes is one square hit at the right angle at the right load at the right time at the right track and you have non conformity at one part of the entire plank.
And that could be anyone at any venue if the FIA could be bothered to check if they're "suspicious".
As it appears this was the reason they checked LeClerc and Ham.

[organic]

Ex-F1 performance engineer claims that excessive wear to skid blocks is very unlikely to arise from a one-off kerb strike or running wide a few times but rather from setup/ride height choice.

[dans79]

It be more like 2 or 3 times per lap.

[ValeVida46]

Violation is 1mm of wear and Ferrari was off by few tenths of a mm, Merc likely the same. This is squarely in the s— happens category.

You folks are blowing this way out of proportion.

Do you have a source for the test measurement results?

https://x.com/GiulyDuchessa/status/1716 ... 04065?s=20