Mercedes AMG F1 W03

[dren]

Maybe they have to spring the car that way to avoid switching on the flux capacitor by accident

My thoughts exactly. They don't want the gaseous mercury turning into a liquid. It loses its phosphorescense that way. No glow = no go.

[dren]

As I recall, there is a limited number of tyres for each week of testing. So I guess they are saving the slicks for proper runs?

Or, they are testing the aero on wet/inters with their larger diameter and greater ground clearance.

I didn't know they were larger, figured they were all the same diameter and just adjusted the suspension for ground clearance.

[Mr.S]

If they were running inters on a full dry track & on heavy fuel load in brand new track I dont see what is surprised to even see if it is unbalanced or rolling.

[marcush.]

cooling issues and burning marks on the plastic are two different things alltogether.
you clearly have two options with the second item: play it safe and add airgap /introduce elaborate heatshielding or test and look where you need to take action to make the bodywork survive....These items are manageable but you would try to avoid adding weight or ruining aero...believe me you can stop the bodywork showing this type of issues with ease adding a few grammes only.
Worrying last year was they needed to open the sidepods to improve flow from the rads,as the cooling system was marginal..completely differnt story.

[diego1960]

So when will we know? Will the cooling problem be revealed if they start using gills/cutting holes in the bodywork? Moreover, is there only one W03 chassis in Barcelona now? I am asking that because tomorrow we might see Rosberg running with no problems with the "burned" sidepods, so no way to know if they are actually deteriorating from yesterday, as they will already be "brown". I hope it makes sense when you read it...

[allstaruk08]

its probably a picture early in the day, they might aswell use the inters to make sure all systems are working properly instead of wasting a set of slicks.

[marcush.]

I don´t care if they burn their bodywork ...as long as they are quick...
They need to win this year and i think that ´s exactly what they are going to do..I predict Brawn will fulfill his last ambitions in F1 in 2012.

[strad]

self edit

[primozb]

Every f1 car has heat problems. And every car has different colours. I mean mercedes is silver and almost every car is burned in some places

[diego1960]

Marcush i certainly hope you are right, it would be really special to see MSC on the top step of the podium once again at this age also! As for the burning bodywork, I wouldn't mind either as long as it didn't interfere with their performance, but as we 've seen last year this is not the case. If they start cutting holes everywhere it is going to slow them down eventually...

[bhall]

The car appears as though it's sagging in the middle, like it has a broken back. I'm sure that's intentional. (And probably a brilliant interpretation of the reference plane.)

(Click to enlarge.)

[Ferraripilot]

I'm still searching for pics of their rear brake duct winglets. They have something interesting back there.

[atanatizante]

If you look closely and match everything up... This whole car is rocking and rolling over the kerb, not kjust the wing whcih remains pretty much in line with the rest of the car.

An interesting fact is that W03 doesn`t detached from the ground at a place (entering through the chicane ... turn 13 I think) where all the cars are ending with the inner front tyre hanging on the air !

[atanatizante]

I'm still searching for pics of their rear brake duct winglets. They have something interesting back there.

You could notice the absence of them ... maybe for better air flow in this area?

They also copied the bulb from RB, placed onto the floor (in the picture is high on the right side)

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

An interesting fact is that W03 doesn`t detached from the ground at a place (entering through the chicane ... turn 13 I think) where all the cars are ending with the inner front tyre hanging on the air !

No doubt about it....Mercury suspension in action!