Mercedes GP MGP W01

[Raptor22]

Hey, for a while there i thought the rear end was aluminum!
It's pretty shiny.

However, the body does not look as developed as the others, hopefully i am wrong.
There is nothing on the body that really stands out, that sets this apart from the competition but then again i felt the same about the BRAWN last year.

More often than not, the cleanest simplest solution on a fast moving body is the best solution.
Each time you try to get air to change direction it creates turbulence and associated drag.

Remember the designer want to feed as much air as possible to the downfroce producing elements but in as clean flwoing stream as possible. Twists and turns just makes twist and twirly air flow which is not good.
I am very impressed with the clean lines in the Mercedes and the brushed aluminium effect makes it look like a Focke Wulf with the Red Baron at the helm!
(yes yes two different era's blah blah blah...)

[adam2007]

are they using last years front wing? it looks the same or am i wrong

[segedunum]

I am very impressed with the clean lines in the Mercedes and the brushed aluminium effect makes it look like a Focke Wulf with the Red Baron at the helm!

So McLaren is more German than Mercedes?

[Raptor22]

are they using last years front wing? it looks the same or am i wrong

Yes the wing is a modified to fit on the W 01 version of the wing raced toward the nd of last year.
The rear diffusor is also a development of the lst version of the BGP001. Definative version of the car will only be seen at the last test, and it will be this way for all the top teams

[raceman]

Definative version of the car will only be seen at the last test, and it will be this way for all the top teams

and take out a secret weapon at the last moment to strike

[WhiteBlue]

To me the McLaren diffusor looks a lot more developed than the Mercedes one. Perhaps they will not introduce something radically different for Bahrain but just an update.

[jamsbong]

Just had a thought. Do you guys realised this team is actually once called Honda and before that BAR? How quickly things have changed and Honda must feel regret that they've let it go at the worst of times.

I could never have imagined that Michael Schumacher would drive an X-Honda. I guess it is not so relevant now. Nevertheless, it is interesting.

[D'Leh]

Looks like the drive shafts are actually slightly swept backwards rather than forming a straight axle. Interesting. I remember having seen one of those Williams features at Eurosport, where they claimed that such an approach would actually reduce efficiency and durability. What could be the benefit of it then?

[sh^rkbo0ts]

What could be the benefit of it then?

More space behind the gearbox for diffuser.

[BorisTheBlade]

The rear diffusor is also a development of the lst version of the BGP001.

No offense - but you wrote that twice by now and it's simply not true. The diffuser is totally different to the solution they had last year. If you compare it to one of the gazillion diffuser pics of last year's BGP01 you will clearly see the differences of the whole concept. Furthermore I doubt that a 09 diffuser would be compatible to the MGP 01. Because if it was the case it would mean that they didn't improve their floor concept.
I'm in no way saying that the actual diffuser is the one we'll see come bahrain. But it's also not even close to the one we saw last year.

But that leads me to the question: Would they really design an intermediate diffuser just to trick the competition? I don't think so. Maybe they just realized that a MP4-25-like solution has more downsides than advantages. Maybe - but that's something I can hardly believe - they got leapfrogged by McL.

[tarzoon]

But that leads me to the question: Would they really design an intermediate diffuser just to trick the competition? I don't think so. Maybe they just realized that a MP4-25-like solution has more downsides than advantages. Maybe - but that's something I can hardly believe - they got leapfrogged by McL.

We can argue as much as we want, and come with the craziest conspiracy theories. All we can see is a different diffuser and the same wings.

But I still have the impression that this car has a lot of open platform for development and it is far from ready. Can't wait to see the end product

[godlameroso]

It doesn't make sense to me to wait until the last test, simply because you won't be able to accurately verify the effectiveness of the new components. I can see why they wouldn't do it at the very first test, perhaps testing the chassis is more important at the moment. Also you don't need the new wings and diffusers to test the tires. My guess is that interim solutions to the wings and diffusers were done to get as much data on the chassis and tires as possible. However, at the same time, delaying in getting data on those components is counter productive.

[tarzoon]

It doesn't make sense to me to wait until the last test, simply because you won't be able to accurately verify the effectiveness of the new components. I can see why they wouldn't do it at the very first test, perhaps testing the chassis is more important at the moment. Also you don't need the new wings and diffusers to test the tires. My guess is that interim solutions to the wings and diffusers were done to get as much data on the chassis and tires as possible. However, at the same time, delaying in getting data on those components is counter productive.

I didn't mean that the teams will have a completely different car for the first race. Or that they won't test the new parts at all simply to hide their ideas. Just that the car is still relatively far from the end product.

My opinion is actually quite similar to yours.

[Richard]

What a beautiful airbox arrangement.

Not sure about the attempted shark fin. Looks like they had it detailed on two old fashioned drawings and the fabricators didn't notice the "continued on sheet 2"!

[deaken]

It looks like the diffuser they're running is exactly the same one that was on the Brawn show car at the Autosport show.