Mercedes GP W02

[AbbaleRacing77]

The exhaust would be near the impact structure if it goes to the front... Not to mention i would be willing to bet that with a FEE there would also be a whole new side pod requiring the impact structures to be changed in size or shape within the regulations. It was also mentioned that a new radiator setup was on its way to solve some of the jury rigged cooling solutions... Again requiring a change in the side impact structures. Seeing that the side pods of the mercedes IMO have looked fairly elementary with holes cut out for additional cooling and literally no undercut I expect to see a large amount of refinement in this area and possibly the rumored FEE. We will find out next friday....

[atanatizante]

What`s happened with the Aussie upgrades?

In China they went to the basic car. That means they get rid of Australia upgrades and return to the Barcelona spec car. Now they have a better understanding of the whole package and maybe they`ll put again the same upgrades designed for Sydney but refined with some improved cooling system which caused them many problems so far.

There are at least two reasons why they can`t go so bold with the FEE upgrades because:
1.that will change the whole car as well mentioned some others here ...
2.(and most of all) they have been taking some lessons regarding small steps in development. For this reason you should see how it went back in winter testing and what happened in Australia + Malaysia with the upgraded package.

[AbbaleRacing77]

Obviously FEE would be alot of work but i dont know if i would discount it... Mercedes upgrades have been very minimal if any so i would have to think that theyre working on something dramatic. Dramatic yet well designed. If mercedes have a good understanding of how FEE works with aero and have the manpower and resources in the wind tunnel then theres nothing holding them back at this point... The underside of the car is the same shape as renault so new side pods, floor (under the front of the side pods), exhaust, and insulation are within reach seeing that they might have designated alot of time into this update. This is F1... it can happen

[3one]

3 more days till the next GP... Any news or spy shots on the upgrades on the W02? Would they be really pushing a FEE in Spain? Very exciting indeed..

[marcush.]

I´m really curious if Mercedes is now pushing out the car we were waiting for already at the season opener....

The sidepod area looks still half baked to me and like a firedrill like job to patch up for something else wich could just not be finished in time...

We will see a new cooling package and new spectacular exhaust routing.

[Ferraripilot]

I´m really curious if Mercedes is now pushing out the car we were waiting for already at the season opener....

The sidepod area looks still half baked to me and like a firedrill like job to patch up for something else wich could just not be finished in time...

We will see a new cooling package and new spectacular exhaust routing.

And hopefully they can use their best wing or perhaps a flexing front wing. Either way, I believe we are in for something special this week.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Dont expect anything major.

Mk3 FW? not a chance. Not until the rear of the car is planted will we see anything remotley resembling the Mk 3 wing.
With their exhaust exit mounted near enough midships(Whereas most are at the rear and Renaults at the front) I think Mercedes will have to have decided which concept was best sometime ago.

Now the are 3 angles to look at here. First the RB route which Mercedes could do relatively easily as Mclaren and a couple of others have demonstrated.
Then we have the more complex Renault system, which is more difficult to integrate and its benefits in relation to the RB exhaust remain unquantifiable.
The joker in the pack is the "octopus" exhaust McLaren have been working on. Many have said that McLaren have been working extremely closely with Mercedes HPE to get it working, and I think Mercedes GP will be aware of it in some capacity.

The big area for Mercedes is their exhaust system. As I think if they get it right, they will solve alot of their rear end issues. In addition it could yield them an exponential bonus if it means they can add their Mk3 wing.

But for Spain, I really only see some slight updates as they will want to correlate data the got from the tests over winter before kicking on.

[dren]

I will be extremely surprised if Mercedes debuts a new exhaust layout. I expect a few bits to help with the flow and new side pannels for exhausting sidepod flow. The rear tire issues are more likely due to set-up choices with spring rates, etc, which is where they seem to have found the most time.

Also, I don't expect a flexi front wing. I don't think Red Bulls wing flexes that much. It seems to be the rake that gets the wing low to the ground.

If there is a big new development added to the car with a FEE or some other new exhaust layout, expect it to not work the way the team wants. It'll take at least 3 races to get sorted out if they keep it. The team had a hell of a time with updates last year.

Maybe, just maybe, the team had a really innovative exhaust layout it wanted to debut but couldn't get it working in time so they went with a compromise, much like Mclaren did. But I would have expected Brawn to say so at the start of the season.

[dren]

The last two races in Turkey and China have proved that we can be quick in certain conditions but we need to focus on achieving that level of performance consistently over the entire race weekend. We will have an aerodynamic development package for the Spanish Grand Prix, along with refinements to our suspension package, which should help to find the consistency in the car that we are looking for. The Circuit de Catalunya is such a familiar venue to the teams that we should be able to maximise our practice time to focus on this, and I hope to see another step forward and a positive weekend.

So typical set-up improvements and some aero bits we should expect.

[NewtonMeter]

I would be happy if they merely fix their cooling gremlins...

[Ferraripilot]

There is mention of suspension updates as well which are more specifically mentioned today via statements from Schumacher.

JET - if they mentioned exhaust and cooling updates for Spain, do you think they will only test them Friday and make the decision regarding use of them further? Makes sense to me as this is what Mclaren did....I think

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

JET - if they mentioned exhaust and cooling updates for Spain, do you think they will only test them Friday and make the decision regarding use of them further? Makes sense to me as this is what Mclaren did....I think

Im not sure they mentioned exhaust updates.

Only that they have a couple of aero teaks, and some suspension updates. Suspension is a key area they suffered with last year and it appears they are tackling it step by step.
I really dont think we will see anything on the exhaust front, however I'm only being pessimistic in the hope of being surprised.

Scarbs wrote there are rumours swirling round F1 that Mercedes are going to have a big update in Spain.
"Mercedes, Rumours of a front exit exhaust, allied to new sidepods, cooling & side impact crash structures"
And
""aerodynamic development , along with refinements to our suspension package" rumours abound on this upgrade"

Given what we have seen historically, and what Haug has stipulated at the beginning of the season(each upgrade has to be verified before it is raced) I dont think we will see a paradigm shift from what we already know.


Edit: the rumours of new sidepods etc are eminating from Auto Motor und Sport...usually very accurate. Hmmm lets see what turns up Friday, we may even get a glimpse thursday.

[shelly]

I think that barcelona is the only track where it is convenient for Mercedes to introduce a big revamping for the car, because it is the most well known track, where they have the biggest amount of data.

So I think that if they have some big change in the pipeline, they will try to run it on friday in barcelona, even if tey are not planning to race it until alter (e.g. canada)

[kalinka]

How long we are speculating about those new sidepods ? I think it was long before the first race....I don't believe anymore what Haug says. I mean the car's looking damn similar what we saw in testing...I bet it would be similar this time too. I think they abandoned the "big overhaul" plans, and now they stick with an evolutional development....
Hope I'm wrong Those sidepods are ugly.

[Byronrhys]

"We have quite a few things in the pipeline, but Ross (Brawn) will hit me if I tell," Mercedes’ motor sport vice-president Haug joked in an interview with ibnlive.com.

"So, (there’s) no chance that I can be specific," he added.

http://motorsport.nextgen-auto.com/Haug ... 23321.html