Mercedes AMG F1 W03

[hardingfv32]

Have they reverted to a more conventional design this year?

No, I suspect the efficiency of the axle systems has improved with better materials, finishing and coatings. Nothing stays the same.

Brian

[PlatinumZealot]

the only reason i qouted your post is that, i think as much as u do, that this DRS hole is an outlet of air and NOT inlet, the whereabouts of the legality is in the hands of charlie for sure, but i was trying to analyze the function of the technology. as i said its all about reducing the effect of air pressure and its frictional impact on the cars body... by terbulating air or reduce its direct flowing pressure around the cars body, starting from the nose going all where is possible. and the only way is by creating vacuum of air areas and channeling pressured air to it.

beside that image previously of the 2 inlet tubes in the front section of the nose, those ducts are not usually placed there?!?!?

As for the bottom of the car details, i remember in one video on youtube of MSC being very defenses towards photographers to take any shots of the cars bottom... like never shoot at all, he seemed very worried.

after all of course its all speculation from everybody's part to figure out what is it exactly the trick of the MGP technology.

It could be and is more likely to be an inlet based on what we know so far. I once thought it was an outlet but after seeing the pipes going through the chassis and Gary Anderson's explanation I have to reconsider.

Simply because the pressure under the front wing is extrememly low when compared to the pressure ON TOP of the rear wing in a DRS event. Couple this with the absence of any other holes leading to the front wing slots.

There might be other explanations to show that the air is goes front to back, and the FWings from blown to unblown, but nobody has come up with a proper explanation for that yet.

[ArchAngel]

Heck, they need to break out & bolt on the monkey seat for a quick-&-dirty DF boost to help get those rear tyres working properly.

If only it was that simple.

[Raptor22]

I'm pretty convinced the flow goes rear to front.
As mentioned before, the holes in the end plate are in a position of very high pressure (where you would normally see vortices streaming off the wing in humid conditions).

The pressure gradient across those apertures and the underside of the front wing is significant enough to create a flow through the car, via the ducting already identified.

I still maintain Scarbs was on the money with his POV on the system.

[Raptor22]

Heck, they need to break out & bolt on the monkey seat for a quick-&-dirty DF boost to help get those rear tyres working properly.

If only it was that simple.

conundrum:
drag reduction looses downforce which creates a loss of tyre heat. This needs to be compensated for with a mechanical set up that works the tyre harder.They can't really do this because DRS is used over a very short section of a circuit so their set up must still work over the whole lap. But if they loose heat while DRS is enabled then they are at a disadvantage exiting slow corners. We don't really see this. What we see is a general inability to keep the tyres within their operating window which tells me they have erred to far on the side of caution. They designed in low wear rates to fix the W02 achilles heel. They have just gone too far the other way.

Thing is, its fixable but they need more data and the first two races places them a disadvantage.
How they fix the problem this season will be determine if Schumacher stays or retires for good.

[Maelstrom]

Are there any rumors of a Merc upgrade on the cards by Europe or sooner?

Merc started development of the car quite early last year and they missed the first test to make sure tey had more development time. I find it hard to believe they spent all that time only working on this F-Duct gizmo to make their qualifying speed more impressive.

With Ross Brawn and the impressive new Merc technical team what are the possibilities that we might see a lot of upgrades planned through the year to allow them to catch up to McLaren?

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

@Maelstrom

No rumours, but we can take the educated guess that we will see a far more aggressive exhaust from Mercedes-AMG come the first few rounds of the European season.
May even provide a more stable platform for their tyre issues.

And this year will be all about how Mercedes can develop in season. Expect upgrades.

[Maelstrom]

@Maelstrom

No rumours, but we can take the educated guess that we will see a far more aggressive exhaust from Mercedes-AMG come the first few rounds of the European season.
May even provide a more stable platform for their tyre issues.

And this year will be all about how Mercedes can develop in season. Expect upgrades.

That sounds great. Very promising to hear for a Merc fan. We may be down but we're not out.... Yet.

[Coefficient]

Although, having it angled like that does increase transmission losses.

You think? What is with Williams high angle axle design then? Maybe things have changed.

Brian

Williams have a clever device on the transmission where the drive shaft meets the diff which minimises the power loss experienced from using a severe angle for drive shafts. The device also controls the torsional problems created by angled drive shafts. Can't remember the name of the device but its similar in principle to the clutch system on a helicopter rotor assembly which maintains power when the rotor is tilted forward whilst at the same time prevents the fuselage from spinning in the opposite direction. Maybe Mercedes have one too.

[ArchAngel]

...its fixable but they need more data and the first two races places them a disadvantage.
How they fix the problem this season will be determine if Schumacher stays or retires for good.

Agreed on both counts.

With Ross Brawn and the impressive new Merc technical team what are the possibilities that we might see a lot of upgrades planned through the year to allow them to catch up to McLaren?

Ross himself is strongly convinced that the reinforcements to the organization, its resources & systems have now elevated Merc in a much better position than before to pursue in-season developments that will keep the team competitive throughout the season... Although probably not as aggressively and at the same break-neck pace as the "RRA? What RRA?" teams.

[NewtonMeter]

@Maelstrom

No rumours, but we can take the educated guess that we will see a far more aggressive exhaust from Mercedes-AMG come the first few rounds of the European season.
May even provide a more stable platform for their tyre issues.

And this year will be all about how Mercedes can develop in season. Expect upgrades.

I think I'm going to stick my head out at this point and say that, while they may be evaluating the benefits of the pseudo-EBD, but that they'll find it's not worth the effort. If the EBDs gave them 0.8s per lap - which I think is a reasonable estimate - and Martin Witmarsh (I think) reckons the efficiency is now to the level of about 25% it's clearly not worth it. I think they can spend that development money much more wisely elsewhere. Tyres come to mind.

It will undoubtedly be banned next season anyway, I see no use in developing it - nor am I convinced that the EBD is what's causing the tyre problems. Many teams don't have the EBD and don't suffer tyre issues because of it. Pretty sure it's suspension related.

Edit:
I'm going to add that we should be careful to not fall into the trap of seeing something on other cars, and because the W03 doesn't have that feature, blame all the troubles on that. It's usually much more complex than that.

[RobertPthe3rd]

Ebds are still important. Anyway you can get more rear df, means you can have more overall df. And the rb ebd was worth more than .8 I would say closer to 2 seconds so 25% is still .5 huge in f1 that's 10th to 1st at some races

[raymondu999]

EBD worth 2 seconds?

[Maelstrom]

Ebds are still important. Anyway you can get more rear df, means you can have more overall df. And the rb ebd was worth more than .8 I would say closer to 2 seconds so 25% is still .5 huge in f1 that's 10th to 1st at some races

If the Redbulls were 1.5-2 seconds faster it doesn't mean it was all down to EBD.

IIRC the renault engine of the RBR also saves more fuel than the Merc and Ferrari. That means a lighter fuel load and faster lap times.

I'm sure the aero helped as well.

[shelly]

EBD worth 2 seconds?

Indeed. Tombazis said the ballpark for performance gain with ebd in 2011 was 2sec in a recent interview