Mercedes AMG F1 W03

[stefan_]

I find that very hard to believe.

P.S.: Long live Google Translate.

[elf341]

If their "thinking" suspension system is truly unique, it could account for the apparently unique property amongst mid-field/top teams that Mercedes has, of eating aggressively eating the tyres.

[aral]

Earlier in the year wasn't there a lot of chatter about something with an interlinked mercury based suspension? I don't remember much though.

Not the "mercury suspension" again, PLEASE!

It is the DAMPERS that are interconnected, something that is also found on road cars.

[Ferraripilot]

It is the DAMPERS that are interconnected, something that is also found on road cars.

Whatever it is they are knee-deep in, it is different from other teams in a sense that it's eating tires and took quite some time to either, a. understand, or b. dumb-down so it would play nice with the tires (all at a performance cost). Other top teams have employed this system yes, but they probably have deduced it's capacity to work with or kill tires in a way that perhaps Mercedes does not understand? I do not suspect a case of Mercedes not understanding how interlinked dampers operate, but rather I believe they built a system more complicated than they were able fully understand or very possibly fully control. If I had to guess, I would say there's something in the dampers and lines themselves which communicate hydraulically differently than we have ever seen.

While I marvel at the potential genius that their system may very well be, I am broken over it as well. To me, it will be a car that 'almost was' simply due to this quirky suspension system.



Has anyone else noticed W03s front end does not appear nearly as soft as it did especially at Malaysia and Monaco?

[Timstr]

Do we know for sure that other teams are running interlinked dampers?
Several teams have looked into but we never saw evidence of implementation at teams other than Mercedes.

[Ferraripilot]

Do we know for sure that other teams are running interlinked dampers?
Several teams have looked into but we never saw evidence of implementation at teams other than Mercedes.

Scarbs has alluded to it being implemented by other 'top teams' for perhaps a few years now but I've never heard specifically who. We can probably safely assume Red Bull, Mclaren, and Ferrari in some form have interlinked dampers and I'm sure their paradigms have some commonalities but are inherently different for each teams purposes.

[NewtonMeter]

I stated quite some time ago that their rumored genius suspension system is both their best and worst asset. I suspect they may have to dumb the system down a bit to play nice with the very fickle tires. I would also conjecture they already have reduced the ability of their suspension system in the name of benefitting the tires as their massive gap to even Mclaren now just doesn't make sense. Ross stated earlier in the year that their system has for their practical non-computer controlled purposes, the ability to 'think' which is quite a bold claim. A hydraulic system so complex surely would require a tire practically designed for such a system.

Well, if it can 'think', it's a --- idiot.

[marcush.]

Good or bad -i don´t think Lauda is in a position to judge the complexity of W03 as the root cause for their lack of success.
Most interestingly the team never ever cited the compplexity of the suspension hydraulics as a potential bottleneck.Quite remarkable considering how much they talk and bemoan other areas and aspects of the machine.

[elf341]

I like FerrariPilot's point that the car "almost was". I wonder if their system would have worked very well with last year's Pirelli tyres, but was just completely wrong for this years -- and in a way that was unrecoverable.
If so, it would have parallels with the Lotus Renault R31, which Allison claimed would have been very fast if run on the Bridgestones (source).

Car designers aren't wrong when they refer to tyres as a black art.

[PlatinumZealot]

IMO Other teams don't have interconnected suspension. Interconnected suspension is a bitch to tune.

Interconnected solutions and Interconnected problems!

[ArchAngel]

I would've thought that an "intelligent" interlinked suspension/damper system (mercury-activated or otherwise) would, if anything, allow the car to take corners/turns more aggressively, much closer to the absolute edge of adhesion, without killing the tyres?

[marcush.]

IMO Other teams don't have interconnected suspension. Interconnected suspension is a bitch to tune.

Interconnected solutions and Interconnected problems!

Isn´t the interconnections aim not to separate the different modes ?

[Raptor22]

judging by the degree of body roll the only thing interconnected on the W03 is the gearbox to a gbvoodoo doll.

[FoxHound]

judging by the degree of body roll the only thing interconnected on the W03 is the gearbox to a gbvoodoo doll.

They had this with the W02 too. The car "squats" on the most loaded part of the car. I'll try source more pictures, but if it is doing so regularly, there is a cast iron reason why they have suffered tyre issues.





This last one is quite remarkable...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dawvon/8018371846/

[raymondu999]

They had this with the W02 too. The car "squats" on the most loaded part of the car.

All cars do though- unless you install funky antisquat suspension