Mystery duct on Schumachers car

[jekenev]

When watching the gp today there was a closeup on Schumi's car. There is a duct on the driver right side of the nose. The duct is only on michael's car and not Nico's



(original image is on F1fanatic)

Could this duct be another sort of wing stalling device or something similar to last years f-duct, or just a cool air vent to keep MSC from getting to hot?

[jekenev]

sorry for the bad pic it was the only decent one I could find

[Robbobnob]

I assume you are talking about the duct on the top of MS cockpit?

Looks to me to be a simple cooling duct, whether for the driver or for the dampers who knows

[n_anirudh]

Can you point out which duct you are referring to?

[FW17]

[Callum]

When watching the gp today there was a closeup on Schumi's car. There is a duct on the driver right side of the nose. The duct is only on michael's car and not Nico's


(original image is on F1fanatic)

Could this duct be another sort of wing stalling device or something similar to last years f-duct, or just a cool air vent to keep MSC from getting to hot?

I don't think it can be an f-duct as there doesn't seem to be anywhere on the rear wing for it to be blown.

[MIKEY_!]

Not an f-duct since they banned open sections in the rear wing and the driver has to move to operate it which is also banned.

[AION]

Hmm.. About the f-duct watch Michael's left hand in these videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGOZ0SVEtHo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzmpVedT ... re=related


Why he is constantly putting his left hand between his left knee and car?

And remember that Mercedes did have some special kind of f-duct last year also. (they did not have the actual duct on the motor cover, instead the air somehow flowed trough the sides of the rear wing)

And to add some more fun here, Mercedes had best straight line speeds without DRS.

And feel free to see any videos from this season with Nico or Schumi, both do that thing with their hand in every dry GP. (they don't do it in qualification because they can use DRS?)

[mep]

I think their last year f-duct was just a bluff.
They might have had one but just very late in the season if ever.

[AION]

I think their last year f-duct was just a bluff.
They might have had one but just very late in the season if ever.

Did U watch the videos?

I just can't think many different reasons for them both rubbing their left knee in every straight

[ringo]

brake balance lever is somewhere around there.

[jekenev]

I think that schumi and rosberg are adjusting brake bias when they have their left hand by their knee. Mercedes uses a lever there rather than a dial or a switch on the steering wheel. Also, after looking at some pictures from last years car they didn't have a normal f-duct (which I never really noticed last season) so I think it may be some sort of aero stalling device controlled by the drivers knee, but I'm also confused as to why it was only on michael's car.

[kevski]

It's just a cooling duct. Schumacher has used them many times over the years while his teammates have used different cooling solutions.

Schumacher with duct


Massa without duct

[Richard]

The left hand is going down to the brake balance lever. All cars have that although I have noticed Schumacher does tend to keep checking it a lot more often than other drivers.

[Callum]

Brilliant find, Kevski.