Mercedes GP W02

[mep]

Well marcush
Can you explain my how McLaren could develop the blown rear wing with reduced airbox size without Mercedes taking any notice of it?
This still keeps me wondering. I agree with you that the engine guys have to be informed for this. I can only explain this by some contacts who prohibit technology transfer. Turned out to be bad for Mercedes because every other team except Mercedes copied the blown rear wing.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

It's certainly a good point mep.

It seems there is a wall between the teams info and requirments. You mention the blown wing, I think mercedes went their own way.
With EBD mercedes are also the only team blowing the top of the floor.

It seems the exhaust works well for mercedes, who again have gone their own way. The reason for it i think, is the shorter wheel base and mid mounted exhausts blowing over the top of the floor keep the cars centre pressure at a point desirable to mercedes.
Otherwise we would have seen an EBD from them by now.

It seems also that the FEE brawn and his team are "looking at", may be better suited to mercedes design. How quickly we will see it, and how relevant it will be all hinges on what HRT have threatened regards the EBDs for Monaco. Mercedes system will also be deemed illegal, as the engines still revving off throttle.

The losses will not be verifiable. What is certain is that EBD provides a benefit off throttle and also at highspeed. It's only the off throttle low speed blowing that is due to be banned, according to whiting. Highspeed benefits of EBD will remain, as will red bulls advantage IMO

[GSBellew]

When or where did Nico say his DRS was not working?

I missed this as I did not get to see the after race coverage

Like other people have already said though you could clearly see his wing wide open following Schumacher along the pit straight so as far as I could see his DRS was working.

Could this not just be a case of something being said by a native German speaker in English in an interview being mis-interpreted? Think about it, even Martin Brundle and David Coulthard even said it in the commentary during the race, DRS was not working the same way it had in Istanbul in that it was not making for easier overtakes.

If this is the case it makes sense that Nico may say after the race that his DRS was not working, as in it was not working as he expected, not in that it was stuck or completely non functional.

[bugref]

New flap in front of the sidepod.

I'm told that that vortex generator "produces a vortex which helps the flow stay attached to the side of the chassis as it approaches adverse pressure gradient ahead of the radiators. This reduces thickness of boundary layer on inboard wall of radiator the duct and improves cooling..."

Scarbs

They really need to ratify their Sidepod its too big, I believe they know by know that their side pod need to be change for next year, thats why they are making some bits of addons to the car to channel the air coming in from the sidepod inlet. the redbull inlet or the maclaren sidepod proves to be better than the merc sidepod design.

[PlatinumZealot]

That flap was there on the bgp01.

[3one]

After their fair position from Spain, the big question is whats the next step for them? With monaco just a week away i'm curious of what the team is going to dish out...

[xpensive]

Well marcush
Can you explain my how McLaren could develop the blown rear wing with reduced airbox size without Mercedes taking any notice of it?
...

In all honesty mep, I don't think the size of the airbox that decisive for the performance of the engine, even at 300 km/h, the pressure build-up can never be more than 4 kPa, or 4% of the atmosphere. At 200 km/h less than 2%.

Xhaust is something different however, as I believe you will fiddle with the engine's characteristics, which makes me curious as to how something like the FEE would change things, perhaps that's why it's taking such time to realize for Mercedes?

[marcush.]

the long last stint was a mistake they were really lucky not to be snapped up by Heidfeld.Rosberg without DRS(!)could not have hold a candle against him...

As for the inlet size of Mclaren ..We don´t know what Mclaren showed to Mercedes in preparation but sure they gave Mercedes the correct dimensions of the engine inlet to avoid any unpleasant surprises.You are not fighting for half tenths of a second to throw away potential in other areas just to not inform your supplier.The question for minimizing size of your inlet in relation to power losses would be a normal one to the engine supplier wouldn´t it? As we can see almost all teams draw a different line of priorities in that area with triangular ,oval ,round shapes ....so..

[xpensive]

Quite obviously so marcush, an undersized airbox, with intake speed higher than car-speed, would cause a slight powerloss at top-speed, while an oversized such, car-speed much higher than intake-speed, would cause unnecessary aerodynamic drag.

Not very difficult to calculate, funny that in the 70s car designer seemed to believe the bigger area the better.

[Fil]

the long last stint was a mistake they were really lucky not to be snapped up by Heidfeld.Rosberg without DRS(!)could not have hold a candle against him...

Mercedes' quick pitstops probably saved both drivers from Heidfeld in Spain. Both Silver Arrows were 4sec quicker (total time) than Heidfeld's Renault in the pits.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

the long last stint was a mistake they were really lucky not to be snapped up by Heidfeld.Rosberg without DRS(!)could not have hold a candle against him...

Mercedes' quick pitstops probably saved both drivers from Heidfeld in Spain. Both Silver Arrows were 4sec quicker (total time) than Heidfeld's Renault in the pits.

And Heidfeld had the use of new tyres throughout the race. Petrov was indicative of Renault's pace, and he wasnt quicker than either W02's during the race.

[marcush.]

JET,I´m repeating this mantra like since the winter.you need to make optimum use of the tyres onSaturdays to be able to get the results on sundays.
When Heidfeld can catch Rosberg but Petov does not even score points then it´s crystal clear that you cannot afford to use up your soft tyre allocation for grid position IF your aim is a points finish.
Of course this approach will not make a car driver combo worthy of a podium magically but it seems this is a very possible startegic possibility.
Driving only on prime tyres should be enough for Schumacher and Rosberg to leave the Virgins and HRT behind and with a little luck even to make it into Q2.Seems to be good enough to carve your way through the field on fresh rubber.You obviously need a genius at the pitwall finding the slots with clean air to make use of the tyre advantage and not grind away all the potential in useless fights.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Yes the Merc going out on softs during Q1 hampered them slightly. Although Ferrari and Renault both did the same.
But they used softs during Q2 and Q3. Softs that Heidfeld had in the bank.
Saving tyres during quali then bagging the points in the race appears to be the way forward now.
Mercedes could utilise the strategy more effectivly as their DRS(when it works) is said to give them an advantage in a straight line.

Perhaps not so at Monaco where grid position is paramount, but somewhere like canada for certain.

For this coming GP at Monaco however I expect the Mercs to struggle and be behind Renault. High downforce and good mechincal grip are not W02 strong points, and the car cannot stretch its legs at this track. Expect a mediocre performance IMO

[marcush.]

i don´t think mercedes dooes show bad form in Monaco.they know their weakness and if anywhere it´s monaco where you can have a completely different car and setup approach.If that´s enough to impress Renault ..who knows .

Mercedes just have to impress now in every race and judging by last years performance -the W01 was a dog in terms of traction as well- i expect a double points finish as the minimum requirement.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Mercedes still have traction issues with the W02. It also goes through rear tyres like nobodies business, perhaps the Ferrari is slightly worse in that sense though.

I would be pleasantly surpirsed if they were had a top 6