Ferraripilot wrote:Is W03s suspension its greatest achievement as well as biggest fundamental flaw?
The Mercedes suspension system, when it works right, I believe is the class of the field. The problem is it appear to be incredibly fickle with how and where (venue wise) it wants to work. At Monaco, the Mercedes of Schumacher was untouchably quick and excellent on tires, yet in every race thereafter it was an utter mess of tire shredding and downforce reductions to prevent that. The Mercedes also IMO has the downforce to run at the sharp end of the grid, when they can run it.
So, is the answer to their issue in the suspension arrangement rather than bolting on an EBD as others have previously suggested? I just can't see how an EBD on its own is going to change much, in fact it could make matters worse with regards to rear tire heat.
An EBD would create rear df, which in turn would lighten the stress on the tyres. I haven't seen one team complaining about their EBD cooking the tyres this year, so it isn't that a problem.
I'm also not inclined to believe the suspension is at the root of the cause; there haven't been any analysing on that and there's nothing out of the ordinary about that. I could be wrong of course, but the extremest of the suspension this year is with Ferrari. They can't use the data from previous years so this was starting from scratch, but they did made it work quite well. Just to say, if there is anything extreme at all at the suspension, being at the front or the rear, it doesn't have to the cause of the tyre problems.
Mind you that I am not saying either EBDs will solve the problem or is the only solution. Lotus is a schoolyard example of a car that indeed is concerning qualy pace a fraction slower, but is very kind on its tyres. Now that I think of it, the team is known for innovative suspension solutions and knowhow. So you might be right, but it could also be the chassis itself.
