Mercedes GP W02

[Poleman]

why do i see a snorkel on the car?? what is that for?

Since they are not blowing anything due to ban i'd dare to say its solely for cooling purposes.Maybe driver/electronic.It wasnt there in Melbourne if i remember correct so it has to do something with Malaysias higher temperatures.

[mep]

Well lets be nasty and say it's there for the same purpose as last year because they where never blowing anything.

[N12ck]

hmmm,,, i wonder, but they already have the cooling hole at the end of the nose, why not make that one bigger??

[Macxtor]

Just face it, Mercedes has been to conservative when developing the W02. They have to take a look at RBR like Renault and MCL did and start focusing on finding "legal" extraordinary solutions like flexi wing/nose/car, flexi suspension and exhast solutions....


I really hope they go back to Brackley and use the w02 new nose design and develop it to linearly decrease when the speed increases. They also have to take a look at the suspensionparts that is not near the RBR and MCL in selfadjusting and flexing.

The most important is that they dont forget the rear parts that aslo have to flex to make the car selfadjusting. This make it possible to control ridehight and to go with high rake. Maybe the short wheelbase will make this a little demanding , Risk of heavy oversteer and lack of balance.

//Mac

Flexi and selfadjusting suspension?
What are you talking about?

If you study how the RBR car work you can see than it´s an exeptional design. The whole car and materials are working togehter and many parts are flexing. Even the suspension and the part around this are flexing and bending. Everything passes the FIA tests so why dont mercedes copy this. MCL and Renault is streching the rules now and they are up in front. Mercedes should go Wild like they did in 2009 with the diffuser:)

//Mac

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Everyone relax, it's only Malaysia. We have to wait until Monza until we see the true pace of the W02, then you can start saying it's a mistake.

Right, JET, et al?

Tell you what Lindz, you do better? Im bitterly dissapointed with this car, and in fact with the overall state of Mercedes GP. Marcush and Xpensive have already mentioned the lack of detailing on this car, and previously the W01. The team needs a shakeup, that is evident. But I think its happening as we speak, Bob Bell will have knives and daggers out at the factory for anything unsatisfactory. They have the best engine and KERS and still Schumacher is outdone by a Sauber.
The car seems now to be a mish mash of reality and fantasy, things arent doing what they should...heard that before.

If he doesnt, the Mercedes really are up ***t creek without the preverbial paddle. This is my main concern. The car hasnt demonstrated its speed at a track that was supposedly suited to its core strengths.
Now we get the usual acronymic BS with KERS and DRS. The more tech the more the teams got an excuse. As a silberpfeile fan, this is pathetic. Neubauer would be turning in his grave at the sight of these guys.

Paint the cars black tommorow and call it a "concept by Mercedes-Benz", because every mile these cars do in silver is a disgrace to the heritage of the 3 pointed star. W02? Thats a joke in my view. More like BGP003 with fancy paint work.
2012 and Mercedes simulators and tech cannot come soon enough for these guys.
And if I were Brawn I would also look at getting James Key over, look at what Sauber are doing with there resources......

Im livid, but I wont draw out the heavy weaponry until I see Mercedes actuall influence on the team.

[volarchico]

why do i see a snorkel on the car?? what is that for?

These aren't just aerodynamic devices similar to the turning vanes? I haven't followed F1 for long enough to understand what the "snorkels" from years back were used for. Thanks!

[mep]

@Macxtor
Can you give me a link where you see the suspension flexing in an unnatural way?

[Giblet]

These were never called snorkels. A snorkel is an air intake.

There were called Chimney's, and I guess they must fall into the same exclusion area as the turning vanes on the side which used to be called "mirror mounts'.

Chimney's are great for getting rid of heat in the sidepods. They had little aero effect on the body and were widely adopted by all the teams.

[Dragonfly]

I am afraid, after today's free practice, that Merc are nowhere near the expectations.

Really? Did you expect a 1-2 after FP1 and 2? Mercedes are 3rd quickest based on practice times. This is progress in terms of where they were before.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90507

Everyone relax, it's only Malaysia. We have to wait until Monza until we see the true pace of the W02, then you can start saying it's a mistake.

Right, JET, et al?

Tell you what Lindz, you do better? Im bitterly dissapointed with this car, and in fact with the overall state of Mercedes GP.
...............
If he doesnt, the Mercedes really are up ***t creek without the preverbial paddle. This is my main concern. The car hasnt demonstrated its speed at a track that was supposedly suited to its core strengths.
Now we get the usual acronymic BS with KERS and DRS. The more tech the more the teams got an excuse. As a silberpfeile fan, this is pathetic. Neubauer would be turning in his grave at the sight of these guys.

Paint the cars black tommorow and call it a "concept by Mercedes-Benz", because every mile these cars do in silver is a disgrace to the heritage of the 3 pointed star. W02? Thats a joke in my view. More like BGP003 with fancy paint work.
2012 and Mercedes simulators and tech cannot come soon enough for these guys.
And if I were Brawn I would also look at getting James Key over, look at what Sauber are doing with there resources......

Im livid, but I wont draw out the heavy weaponry until I see Mercedes actuall influence on the team.

It's just the second qualifying session of the season, this is a car in development. Don't give up JET

On more serious note, I didn't expect wonders. But to have a DRS faulty is not something I'd expected from a team with this brand name.

[volarchico]

These were never called snorkels. A snorkel is an air intake.

There were called Chimney's, and I guess they must fall into the same exclusion area as the turning vanes on the side which used to be called "mirror mounts'.

Chimney's are great for getting rid of heat in the sidepods. They had little aero effect on the body and were widely adopted by all the teams.

Ah, chimney's! Thanks for the information and the vocabulary lesson. It's amazing how many technical terms must be created for innovative F1 devices (DRS, f-duct, ARW, splitter, barge board, turning vane, etc). I know one other team (Sauber?) was already doing this, but do we think the other teams will all copy? And I wonder why this wasn't tried last year...

[Lindz]

Everyone relax, it's only Malaysia. We have to wait until Monza until we see the true pace of the W02, then you can start saying it's a mistake.

Right, JET, et al?

Tell you what Lindz, you do better? Im bitterly dissapointed with this car, and in fact with the overall state of Mercedes GP. Marcush and Xpensive have already mentioned the lack of detailing on this car, and previously the W01. The team needs a shakeup, that is evident. But I think its happening as we speak, Bob Bell will have knives and daggers out at the factory for anything unsatisfactory. They have the best engine and KERS and still Schumacher is outdone by a Sauber.
The car seems now to be a mish mash of reality and fantasy, things arent doing what they should...heard that before.

If he doesnt, the Mercedes really are up ***t creek without the preverbial paddle. This is my main concern. The car hasnt demonstrated its speed at a track that was supposedly suited to its core strengths.
Now we get the usual acronymic BS with KERS and DRS. The more tech the more the teams got an excuse. As a silberpfeile fan, this is pathetic. Neubauer would be turning in his grave at the sight of these guys.

Paint the cars black tommorow and call it a "concept by Mercedes-Benz", because every mile these cars do in silver is a disgrace to the heritage of the 3 pointed star. W02? Thats a joke in my view. More like BGP003 with fancy paint work.
2012 and Mercedes simulators and tech cannot come soon enough for these guys.
And if I were Brawn I would also look at getting James Key over, look at what Sauber are doing with there resources......

Im livid, but I wont draw out the heavy weaponry until I see Mercedes actuall influence on the team.

Without going off topic, I will just respond with the relevant bits:

I agree with your post (finally, haha, jk). This is a BGP003. Maybe not even that. I don't know what influence Mercedes have or what they WILL have or what they intend to have. If I were Haug, I'd be kicking myself I didn't put my money into Sauber. Not only is there history between the companies, but the team is much more capable and the facilities are state-of-the-art. Like you said, look what they can achieve on their resources.

I understand the political fallout that would potentially occur with the team being so recently linked with BMW, and I understand after 2009 it seemed (superficially) obvious to buy out Brawn GP. But look at the history of the team over the previous years and what they achieved. They got lucky with a loophole, and they ALMOST threw the championships away by the end of the year anyway.

The detailing on this car is appalling. As is the fundamental design. Long high nose for maximum flow under the car and down low. And a short stubby body that the air doesn't want to flow around? Really boys? This is a BASIC geometry/aerodynamics lesson. Whatever, so they decide to go this 'different' route (different than nature, forget about other F1 teams). They don't fillet the floor. They have a hodgepodge of panels, they stack the radiators high and bulky because of the length, and they don't have any smooth easy (apparent) transitions for the air around the car. Again, a detriment to the CLEARLY strange short body of the car. And they were the first team to stop 2010 development to start on this?

The whole damn thing just smacks of Brackley. Nothing has been changed. What are Mercedes' goals for the team? Timeline? Budget?

[Macxtor]

@Macxtor
Can you give me a link where you see the suspension flexing in an unnatural way?

Look at google and youtube and search for "RB7 Front Wing Flex". There is som pictures and clips when you can se the difference between RBR, MCL and Mercedes. Mercedes suspension looks complete stiff compared to the other two.

Hard to say if it´s unnatural but i looks like the Merc has some job to do. I think both RBR and MCL have softer suspension settnings and combined with the flexnose they have created something special.

//Mac

[Dragonfly]

Ross Brawn:

"We're still struggling with the consistency of the car and are not giving Nico and Michael the best chance to show what they could achieve," said Brawn.

"There are times when the car is working well and the pace is evident, however there are too many occasions where things are not functioning properly.

"We're quite clearly not where we want to be but will continue to work hard to achieve a more competitive position."

I didn't bother searching back, but I am almost sure I've read exactly the same words not a long time ago.

[mep]

@Macxtor
I know their front wing flexes but you said the suspension also does and has some selfadjusting. Apart from having flexible joints instead of ball joints there is nothing else I am aware of a flexible suspension. I assume you confused something there. I think RedBull basically has a normal suspension. Might be softer or have different ride heights but there is nothing we haven't seen before.
When you say something like this you should be able to show me how you got that idea. It's science not religion.

[donskar]

A "flexible" suspension is beyond nightmare. I think we have a semantic problem here.

To JET and others: OK, M-B was not able to influence last year's car, fair enough. But if their engineering brilliance still has had no positive impact one must wonder if it ever will.

Just a day or so ago in autosport.com, Brawn suggested that the only way to succeed might be to copy Newey. There is no questioning his ability, his years at Ferrari speak volumes. But either he has been unable to build a competent team (unlikely) or maybe M-B's influence is simply not positive(?) His comments about copying Newey make me wonder if he sees a light at the end of the tunnel -- and realizes it is a nuclear reactor about to go critical.