2024 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[KimiRai]

RB poised to switch to zeropod design from Japanese grand Prix?

Autosport/Motorsport themselves

[mzivtins]

RB poised to switch to zeropod design from Japanese grand Prix?

Autosport/Motorsport themselves

Said this on the f1tech discord over a month ago.

Also commented about 3rd race of the season days before this. I wonder if that's where they got this news?

[j_ste]

There is no confidence at Merc at all. In all the quotes from Toto and the team you see no-one who is firmly sold one what they have.

It is very much "we will see what we have and how things go" this mirrors the last two seasons of wallowing in a directionless manner.

When you compare that the the decisive comments by McLaren when a direction was chosen, it is very clear.

If Mercedes had any hope of being top three with a design it would have immediately energised the entire team.

This year I feel that mclaren will be to the 2024 merc what rbr were to the 2023 merc.

Any slither of comment from the team is all incredibly downbeat. That is not the sign of a winning team.

McLaren are bold because they saw light for the first time in over a decade.

Mercedes have been in darkness and being bold would be silly.

[Cs98]

Said this on the f1tech discord over a month ago.

Also commented about 3rd race of the season days before this. I wonder if that's where they got this news?

You think Autosport's source is you?

Or is there some other source you got these ideas from?

[zeroday]

There is no confidence at Merc at all. In all the quotes from Toto and the team you see no-one who is firmly sold one what they have.

It is very much "we will see what we have and how things go" this mirrors the last two seasons of wallowing in a directionless manner.

When you compare that the the decisive comments by McLaren when a direction was chosen, it is very clear.

If Mercedes had any hope of being top three with a design it would have immediately energised the entire team.

This year I feel that mclaren will be to the 2024 merc what rbr were to the 2023 merc.

Any slither of comment from the team is all incredibly downbeat. That is not the sign of a winning team.

If im not mistaken Merc has always been conservative in their quotes even during their total domination years. On the contrary, Ferrari would make the big bold claims prior to season starts (e.g. "we found xx secs during winter break!!" is a common tradition by them).

I think at this point Merc would just be happy to finally have a stable and consistent platform so the drivers can start having confidence so they can actually drive. At that point they can then focus on innovations to boost performance.

[zeroday]

RB poised to switch to zeropod design from Japanese grand Prix?

Autosport/Motorsport themselves

Said this on the f1tech discord over a month ago.

Also commented about 3rd race of the season days before this. I wonder if that's where they got this news?

I strongly suspect it isn't so much them shifting towards a zero-pod concept as it is RB just trolling Merc by hiding PART of the inlet (if that is the right term). I believe both Kyle and B-Sport engineers suspect there is a horizontal inlet above that vertical inlet that is currently not being shown (to f*ck with people), but will be visible at testing.

[Venturiation]

I can't believe mike eliott was 3 years ahead of everyone but they made him leave
The real problem is mercedes tools

[mzivtins]

Said this on the f1tech discord over a month ago.

Also commented about 3rd race of the season days before this. I wonder if that's where they got this news?

You think Autosport's source is you?

Or is there some other source you got these ideas from?

No I don't, but we made the joke over on discord that people would be all over it like a tramp on chips.

Trouble with a lot of f1 journalism is that it's a lot of people shouting loud all the time with tiny bits of information. It's just funny to see

I don't have a source, family and friends work at RBR, some for a decade

[Cs98]

I strongly suspect it isn't so much them shifting towards a zero-pod concept as it is RB just trolling Merc by hiding PART of the inlet (if that is the right term). I believe both Kyle and B-Sport engineers suspect there is a horizontal inlet above that vertical inlet that is currently not being shown (to f*ck with people), but will be visible at testing.

The article is not referencing the launch spec, it's talking about a radical upgrade coming for the 4th race of the season which in their words will be a "zeropod". Basically what we are seeing now is some kind of interim package. But there are clues in that package with the vertical inlets and engine cover tunnels that will probably be present on this upgraded version as well.

[f1jcw]

To be zero pod wouldn’t they need an extend side impact section, and Merc had issues switching due to where side pods had to start and finish, the design had limitations, they haven’t changed the rules so Redbull would still have these c limitations

[f1jcw]

Said this on the f1tech discord over a month ago.

Also commented about 3rd race of the season days before this. I wonder if that's where they got this news?

I strongly suspect it isn't so much them shifting towards a zero-pod concept as it is RB just trolling Merc by hiding PART of the inlet (if that is the right term). I believe both Kyle and B-Sport engineers suspect there is a horizontal inlet above that vertical inlet that is currently not being shown (to f*ck with people), but will be visible at testing.

The horizontal inlet has already being shown, are people still saying it doesn’t exist

[stonehenge]

The number of people in this thread who were *certain* that the zeropod style could never work and are making a 180 based on a report that Red Bull will move in that direction is fascinating to me. Let's wait and see what actually happens.

[Venturiation]

The number of people in this thread who were *certain* that the zeropod style could never work and are making a 180 based on a report that Red Bull will move in that direction is fascinating to me. Let's wait and see what actually happens.

I always believed in zeropods
What doesn't make sense is when mercedes said they found the ceiling in it and that they moved on from that
At the same time Allison says the ceiling is clear for the other concept too
Did mercedes see something in the other concept that mclaren and redbull have moved on from or mercedes tools didn't let them see the full potential of zeropods

[Luscion]

The number of people in this thread who were *certain* that the zeropod style could never work and are making a 180 based on a report that Red Bull will move in that direction is fascinating to me. Let's wait and see what actually happens.

I always believed in zeropods
What doesn't make sense is when mercedes said they found the ceiling in it and that they moved on from that
At the same time Allison says the ceiling is clear for the other concept too
Did mercedes see something in the other concept that mclaren and redbull have moved on from or mercedes tools didn't let them see the full potential of zeropods

Allison never said the ceiling was clear for this concept, he said the ground effect cars had a clearer development limitation in terms of what you can do to them compared to previous regs, he even hints that there's a lot more left from their new concept and others in general.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/still ... /10569035/

[stonehenge]

The number of people in this thread who were *certain* that the zeropod style could never work and are making a 180 based on a report that Red Bull will move in that direction is fascinating to me. Let's wait and see what actually happens.

I always believed in zeropods
What doesn't make sense is when mercedes said they found the ceiling in it and that they moved on from that
At the same time Allison says the ceiling is clear for the other concept too
Did mercedes see something in the other concept that mclaren and redbull have moved on from or mercedes tools didn't let them see the full potential of zeropods

Yes you did. And I was never one the people who said zeropods can never work. I just find it curious how many other users have completely switched their tone just based on this one report.

If Red Bull actually adobt a zeropod-concept that is similar to Mercedes and not just a more extreme version of what they already have, I would have so many questions... Lots of folks on the RB thread saying it's just down to the suspension/mechanical platform, but surely it couldn't be that simple? Mercedes has enough resources to have investigated that possibility and they decided to change *both* the suspension/make drastic changes to the chassis, *and* drop the zeropod. Surely they would have a good reason for doing so after two years of zeropod?