Brawn BGP001 aero-mech development in 2009

[Paul]

I could draw a list for next seasons car if they wish. It starts something like this:

Our car would be 3 seconds a lap faster if

1. we had another half a billion from Honda;
2. our last year's car wasn't competitive so we could spend the whole season developing this year's car;
3. we got our hands on alien technology
...

And the list goes on.

[ESPImperium]

The new 2010 Mercedes car would for sure be a further development of BGP001 ( rather than started from blank sheet ) based from the start on the Mercedes engine . We will see if it would be 3 or more seconds faster and if the above are based on reality or not . Of cource the new slimmer front tyres would play a key role on new car’s aero nad mechanical development

Exactly what i was thinking.

And in the F1 Racing mag, the Brawn/Mercedes guy said that they have held back developments back for the 2010 car, but we know that the front of the car, via quotes accredited to Ross Brawn, the nose and cockpit area will look like a RB5 as it offers better development potential.

So, if we take theese facts on board, with the rumored £250million budget that Mercedes are affording for the team, outside other sponsorships like Petronas £55million, i think the team will be still providing the yardstick for the 2010 cars.

Personaly, i think that Mercedes and Red Bull will still be the ones to beat, Ferarri and McLaren will start from a closer point relitive to MGP and RBR, but will still have a little catch up to do. Williams, Renault and Sauber will be where Toyota were relitive to BGP were last year, and Force India and STR will be even closer. Im thinkint that the teams from 2009 in 2010 will only have arround .5 to .7 of a second covering them. With Lotus .3-.5 off that and Campos and Virgin to be a futher .3-.5 behind and USF1 to be up to 2.5 behind the lead pack of MGP, RBR, McLaren and Ferarris.

[BreezyRacer]

From what ive been reading in Jenson Button: My Championship Year and F1 Racing (December 09 or January 10 issue, i cannot remember whitch one) that the Brawn BGP001 could have been up to 3 seconds faster than it actually was if it;

1) Was designed for the Mercedes Benz FO108W as the centre of gravity was raised about 2-3CM and the CoG for the gearbox was raised up to 4CM as well. Not to mention the 20KG extra carbon work that was at the back of the chassis to accomidate the FO108Ws power unit.
2) Aero work could have been better, again relating to the Mercedes unit.
3) Nosecone - Could have been developed futher and exploit the rules more to give better aero efficency.
4) Heat Generation in tyres. If this was resolved, the car could have been up with the Red Bull RB5 on colder days.
6) Rear wing - They only produced 3 types all season, about 14-18 in total, as they couldnt use what they had found in the tunnel and CFD due to budget constraints.
7) KERS - The RA109 was to have KERS for the RA807E powerplant, all to be housed below the drivers seat, but for the FO108W, they housed the oil tank here, and the KERS batteries would have gone here for the Mercedes unit. However, the control unit would have required a air cooling element to be added for the Mercedes unit.
Budget, if the yearly budget wasnt a rumored £110million and was the £400million that Honda were going to allocate, things would have been alot easier overall.

Basically if the whole car was designed for the Mercedes unit from Day 1, and not for the Honda unit, the BGP001 would have been about 2-3 seconds a lap faster. All things considered.

What a joke. When was the last time an all new team/car design could even compete, much less run 2 secs ahead of the pack. Now we can all see just how technically savy Button is (NOT). I especially love the issue of tire heating, which the end result of a design, not the design itself. At least he got someone to buy his book.

[marcush.]

excuse me? wasn´t bgp untouchable at the start of last season? they did actually do some development ,right? and they still could not conserve their advantage ,right?
If I have another 3 seconds in my bag I surely will fire development step 1 as soon
as my advantage is eaten up.and I will fire step 2 when things get hot.
So to me this sounds really unrealistic enthusiast talk and reflects exactly my idea of what we should expect about drivers technical competence.They know how to drive fast and bring the car home in the best possible position and they can give outstanding feedback of what sensations they experience out there on track ,end of story.
lap time is not grown on trees and development steps do not necessarily stack up to linear laptimeimprovements ,fact is:if you are near optimum it is not easy to find time in the car and surely not another second let alone 3 in a field which is covered by less than 3seconds.this sort of advantage is only possible when technology and genius compete against selfish ignorant amateurs and I can´t believe many technical people in F1 are to be counted towards the second group..or one of your boffins has found a loophole or interpretation of the rules a long time before the opponents -e.g.double diffuser,wings,wingcar,blower car,turbo,monocoque,activesuspension ,you name it.

[seinfeld]

my GOD that car was so simple in its design. look at the front wing. is that aluminium LOL and FLOGGED everyone that year!

I wonder how fast that car would be with merc V6 in it?. Maybe BRAWN could sell this chassis to Marussia and catheram if it meant them becoming competitive

[Morteza]