Mercedes W16 Speculation Thread

[Lasssept]

[Cocles]

I didn't think I'd be this cautiously hopeful before the season, mostly because I didn't expect Ferrari and McLaren to heavily modify their cars. It seems Ferrari and McLaren are showing up with A-specs in the sense that Red Bull and Mercedes did last year, whereas Red Bull and Mercedes are showing up with B-specs of last season's cars. Haven't B-specs generally done better this era?

A-specs seem to much more involve rolling the dice.

Between Red Bull and Mercedes, it seems Red Bull are much more in a W14 situation as they're trying to fix the flaws of an A-spec that took a concept too far. Mercedes appear to be in more of a situation needing to dial in the car beyond what one could do without a new tub/gearbox/etc.

I suspect the W16 will be quicker than the RB21. Whether it beats Ferrari and McLaren depends on where those dice rolls land.

Nugnes / Motorsport It

- The team are confident of bringing an ambitious W16 to the track…
- There are rumors circulating in the UK that George Russell is quite enthusiastic after working carefully in the simulator with the W16
- It seems that Allison's engineers, including Resta, have found the issues with the W15 and have finally managed to design a car at the weight limit

https://it.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-me ... /10694803/

[Seanspeed]

I didn't think I'd be this cautiously hopeful before the season, mostly because I didn't expect Ferrari and McLaren to heavily modify their cars. It seems Ferrari and McLaren are showing up with A-specs in the sense that Red Bull and Mercedes did last year, whereas Red Bull and Mercedes are showing up with B-specs of last season's cars. Haven't B-specs generally done better this era?

A-specs seem to much more involve rolling the dice.

Between Red Bull and Mercedes, it seems Red Bull are much more in a W14 situation as they're trying to fix the flaws of an A-spec that took a concept too far. Mercedes appear to be in more of a situation needing to dial in the car beyond what one could do without a new tub/gearbox/etc.

I suspect the W16 will be quicker than the RB21. Whether it beats Ferrari and McLaren depends on where those dice rolls land.

Nugnes / Motorsport It

- The team are confident of bringing an ambitious W16 to the track…
- There are rumors circulating in the UK that George Russell is quite enthusiastic after working carefully in the simulator with the W16
- It seems that Allison's engineers, including Resta, have found the issues with the W15 and have finally managed to design a car at the weight limit

https://it.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-me ... /10694803/

An 'ambitious' W16 doesn't sound any less 'heavily modified' than anything Mclaren or Ferrari are reported to be doing. And Mercedes arguably has the most argument for pursuing more than just some subtle fixes given the problems they had.

Nobody is gonna show up with some wholly new concept, they're all gonna be evolutions of last year's cars. Ferrari's biggest change just seems to be changing front suspension from push to pull rod, which isn't actually some radical overhaul by any means.

I expect all these teams to still try and bring their best A-spec from the start, because everybody knows that development of these cars can only go so far with 2026 looming, therefore getting the best base for the start of the season is important.

I think Mclaren are the only ones that could justify bringing a B-spec, but even they know that such complacency could easily cost them.

[Lasssept]

The W16 has for the 4th time revised and modified the rear suspension layout (and I think the front ones have also received some updates).

https://x.com/FulvioVigilante/status/18 ... 8622165396

[Venturiation]

The W16 has for the 4th time revised and modified the rear suspension layout (and I think the front ones have also received some updates).

https://x.com/FulvioVigilante/status/18 ... 8622165396

Why is this guy used as a source? He has been hyping Mercedes since 2022 with fake rumors about fixing porpoising and new magic suspensions, and after the season starts and they perform badly he will say they found the problem and fix is coming

[zeroday]

The W16 has for the 4th time revised and modified the rear suspension layout (and I think the front ones have also received some updates).

https://x.com/FulvioVigilante/status/18 ... 8622165396

4th time. yikes. sounds like a team that doesn't understand the regulation. I wish they would allow unlimited testing like the past because its demoralizing to see such a great team completely not "get it" and lose their star that built them because of it.

[organic]

The mercedes 2025 rear suspension has been confirmed by Vowles as present on the FW47

[Lasssept]

Bottas inst / WhatsApp

[organic]

Pull rod front

[Lefty8]

radical! Its pointy at the front and blunt at the back
Will the others catch up?

[KimiRai]

Mercedes confirmed to me that they did a carryover with the gearbox. The rear suspension comes as a result because the couplings will still be the same and you can do little about the rest. And in fact if you look at the suspension of the W15 vs Williams 2025 they look identical.

There has been far too much talk (in the winter about the rear of the W15, taking for true information from sites with sub-zero reliability), there is more to say about it. I'm not writing it here now but on the website next week I will

[Emag]

So there won't really be a rear suspension change as it was rumored by numerous sources over the winter?

[SB15]

I doubt that means Mercedes didn't develop the suspension. I think this was initially the W15's suspension concept since Mercedes probably didn't have a enough time to develop it because when it worked as intended, the car was definitley competitive. So I believe the layout of the gearbox is compatible with the W15 or W16 geometry.

[Lasssept]

W16 ?

[Mansell89]

Is there a shakedown due tomorrow ahead of Wednesdays testing?

Unusually quiet from Merc!