Mercedes AMG F1 W03

[dren]

Look at what happened to Raikkonen...it was just what happened to Nico at the first race. If you fall out of the narrow tire performance window, you're screwed hard. It will be a crap shoot with guessing the weather conditions if only a few degrees make all of the difference.

The W03 is a great car as are several on the grid.

The DRS is pedal activated on the W03 right? I couldn't tell when Nico was using it during his pole lap. It would be nice to see when he uses it.

The braking does look very stable. This car also looked planted in the corners. The team has really made some good changes on the overall balance compared to the last two cars.

[WhiteBlue]

...

The speed differential between Rosberg and Button was much bigger in Q3 than it was in the race.

The Mercedes setup was biased for downforce instead for straight line speed as witnessed by the speed trap numbers.

We know that simultaneously reducing drag and downforce at the front and the rear has also an effect on ride height, rake and understeer. All three points are improved. The rake differential between DRS on/off is minimized, the understeering tendency is reduced and the ride height can be minimised as well. The DDRS can be used deeper into the corner and earlier out of the corner. Through the corner the car has better balance than a car that only uses DRS on the rear wing.

The combination of the three points in my opinion clearly shows that the Mercedes DDRS was used to pile on more downforce than it would have carried with a single DRS system. In China Mercedes went to quite extremes of downforce and used it to generate pace through the corners and not through the straights as they used to do last year. It was only possible to do this because they could run in clean air. If they had lost the start Nico would have been in trouble with his straight line speed.

[Fizz.Schumi]

The DRS is pedal activated on the W03 right? I couldn't tell when Nico was using it during his pole lap. It would be nice to see when he uses it.

Mate I think like last year the DRS button is on the back of the wheel

[Crucial_Xtreme]

The DRS is pedal activated on the W03 right? I couldn't tell when Nico was using it during his pole lap. It would be nice to see when he uses it.

It's on the steering wheel. Sky Sports had a segment where they compared Nico's best Q3 lap to Michael's and you could see Nico press the DRS button on the steering wheel way before Michael did. In fact, Michael didn't press the DRS button at all coming off of turn 16 on his Quali lap. Pretty sure the DRS button is on the left side of the steering wheel

[Crucial_Xtreme]

The DRS is pedal activated on the W03 right? I couldn't tell when Nico was using it during his pole lap. It would be nice to see when he uses it.

Mate I think like last year the DRS button is on the back of the wheel

It's on the steering wheel. Top left button.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjg0kFBSU6w

[dren]

The DRS is pedal activated on the W03 right? I couldn't tell when Nico was using it during his pole lap. It would be nice to see when he uses it.

It's on the steering wheel. Sky Sports had a segment where they compared Nico's best Q3 lap to Michael's and you could see Nico press the DRS button on the steering wheel way before Michael did. In fact, Michael didn't press the DRS button at all coming off of turn 16 on his Quali lap. Pretty sure the DRS button is on the left side of the steering wheel

Must be on the back like stated above. I think KERS is the red button on the top left.

[dren]

The DRS is pedal activated on the W03 right? I couldn't tell when Nico was using it during his pole lap. It would be nice to see when he uses it.

Mate I think like last year the DRS button is on the back of the wheel

It's on the steering wheel. Top left button.

[img]http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/2562/mercdrs.jpg[img]

Thought that was KERS? He releases it half way down the straights.

[Crucial_Xtreme]

Thought that was KERS? He releases it half way down the straights.

I originally thought that too, but watch him coming out of the last turn. There is no KERS harvest left, yet when he pushes(and holds) that button the DRS is activated.

[Owen.C93]

The DRS is pedal activated on the W03 right? I couldn't tell when Nico was using it during his pole lap. It would be nice to see when he uses it.

Mate I think like last year the DRS button is on the back of the wheel

It's on the steering wheel. Top left button.

[img]http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/2562/mercdrs.jpg[img]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjg0kFBSU6w

I'm pretty sure that's KERS. He presses it whenever he uses KERS and there's at least 2 examples of when he doesn't press it and the DRS still activates.

[Crucial_Xtreme]

I'm pretty sure that's KERS. He presses it whenever he uses KERS and there's at least 2 examples of when he doesn't press it and the DRS still activates.

Maybe so, but at the end of the lap for example he's pressing that button, there is no KERS to use and the DRS opens. But you & Dren are right, that's the KERS button. My apologies. Just saw that piece on Sky and they had me thinking it was the DRS actuator. Weird he was pressing that button with no available KERS.

I notice he never mentions the DRS actuator.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIM3UdX4zT0

[Fizz.Schumi]

I'm pretty sure that's KERS. He presses it whenever he uses KERS and there's at least 2 examples of when he doesn't press it and the DRS still activates.

Maybe so, but at the end of the lap for example he's pressing that button, there is no KERS to use and the DRS opens. But you & Dren are right, that's the KERS button. My apologies. Just saw that piece on Sky and they had me thinking it was the DRS actuator. Weird he was pressing that button with no available KERS.

I notice he never mentions the DRS actuator.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIM3UdX4zT0

This is last years video where nico explains the wheel :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aphrHIAI1JY

at 2:23 he says that the rear wing button is at the back because they ran out of space on the front of the wheel My observation was correct (rarity)

Although yeah I noticed whilst watching schumi's video from this year that he didn't mention it.

[Owen.C93]

I'm pretty sure that's KERS. He presses it whenever he uses KERS and there's at least 2 examples of when he doesn't press it and the DRS still activates.

Maybe so, but at the end of the lap for example he's pressing that button, there is no KERS to use and the DRS opens. But you & Dren are right, that's the KERS button. My apologies. Just saw that piece on Sky and they had me thinking it was the DRS actuator. Weird he was pressing that button with no available KERS.

I notice he never mentions the DRS actuator.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIM3UdX4zT0

It's probably just in case there's any left.

[hardingfv32]

...

The speed differential between Rosberg and Button was much bigger in Q3 than it was in the race.

The Mercedes setup was biased for downforce instead for straight line speed as witnessed by the speed trap numbers.

We know that simultaneously reducing drag and downforce at the front and the rear has also an effect on ride height, rake and understeer. All three points are improved. The rake differential between DRS on/off is minimized, the understeering tendency is reduced and the ride height can be minimised as well. The DDRS can be used deeper into the corner and earlier out of the corner. Through the corner the car has better balance than a car that only uses DRS on the rear wing.

The combination of the three points in my opinion clearly shows that the Mercedes DDRS was used to pile on more downforce than it would have carried with a single DRS system. In China Mercedes went to quite extremes of downforce and used it to generate pace through the corners and not through the straights as they used to do last year. It was only possible to do this because they could run in clean air. If they had lost the start Nico would have been in trouble with his straight line speed.

1) The speed difference between Mercedes and others was large. This does indicate a plus for the DDRS.

2) Downforce bias, I do not see how this favors a DDRS position. Mercedes Qual trap speeds were not unusually slow. I do not see anything indicating a downforce bias.

3) All the facts about a well functioning DDRS are true, but they provide no indication the Mercedes system is providing any of these advantages.

So only one of your three points supports your position that the DDRS is of value.

Yes, Mercedes had a different setup from last year. What were the race trap speeds like, was Mercedes one of the slowest?
Again, I do not see the importance of running in clean air. What is the definition for a clean air safe distance? No one in the trains that develop in the field during the race seem to worried by dirty air.
I also do not buy the logic of Mercedes betting on a pole after years of poor performance and a weak start to this year.

Brian

[WhiteBlue]

Brian,

Merc have the system on the W03 and they would not have gone to a massive design effort if it were as useless as you say. Equally they would not have been attacked as vehemently if the system was useless.

I see little point in further discussion. You might have noticed Anderson's opinion that more teams will be doing DDRS pretty soon. The first versions are expected from Barcelona. We can easily wait and see whose opinion is correct. At least I don't need an endless opinion debate. So let us have different opinions until the paddock comes to a clear verdict over the system.

[hardingfv32]

Brian,

Merc have the system on the W03 and they would not have gone to a massive design effort if it were as useless as you say. Equally they would not have been attacked as vehemently if the system was useless.

We have know about this system since Oct 2011, plenty of time for the competition to modify their chassis before the start of the season. Yet not one competitor has shown a system to this point.

Brian