Mercedes AMG F1 W03

[FoxHound]

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

Yes every car will squat at some point, but to varying degrees which is my point. Can you find other cars behaving like the W03?

[raymondu999]

Yes they've always been sprung very soft, and that much was evident since testing.

Mind you excessive squat/dive can heat up tyres thanks to the weight transfer, and also, the softer suspension could yield excessive movements, leading to extra heat.

[FoxHound]

Yes they've always been sprung very soft, and that much was evident since testing.

Mind you excessive squat/dive can heat up tyres thanks to the weight transfer, and also, the softer suspension could yield excessive movements, leading to extra heat.

That's exactly my point. They suffered all these tyre issues, and now these last 2 races we can see the car appears more stiffly sprung, with not as much roll attributes as before. Schumacher practically did the whole race on the prime tyre, which lets face it, isnt conducive to a car hard on it's tyres.

[raymondu999]

Eh? Schumacher pitted end of lap 1, prime - option.

Then he pitted again at the end of Lap 33, for another set of option. Then he retired on lap 55. He didn't do the race on a set of primes?

I don't think India is representative - the drivers were saying that they were doing 60 qualifying laps, AND still one-stopping as the tyres were holding up.

[Coefficient]

Yes they've always been sprung very soft, and that much was evident since testing.

Mind you excessive squat/dive can heat up tyres thanks to the weight transfer, and also, the softer suspension could yield excessive movements, leading to extra heat.

It also affects rear downforce, especially now they have the coanda setup??

[FoxHound]

Eh? Schumacher pitted end of lap 1, prime - option.

Then he pitted again at the end of Lap 33, for another set of option. Then he retired on lap 55. He didn't do the race on a set of primes?

I don't think India is representative - the drivers were saying that they were doing 60 qualifying laps, AND still one-stopping as the tyres were holding up.

My bad, must have been an errand Mercedes PR release!

[dren]

So the W03 is too complicated for its own good, how Mercedes like.

Brawn hinted that they had trouble getting all 4 tires in the temperature range. A few would be at times, then a few at other times. They must have had to tune for inertial changes in braking zones and in corners. Similar to how the passive DRS is a b!tch to tune.

Is there any word if they have dumped it completely or still running it now?

[Morteza]

Mercedes may choose to ditch passive double-DRS system in 2013

Mercedes has conceded that it may elect not to race with a passive double-DRS next season, thanks to the difficulties it has experienced in getting the system to work so far this year.

The Brackley-based team has tried the concept during Friday practice at several recent races, but has already ruled out racing it in the final three grands prix of the year.

Team principal Ross Brawn admits that there does not appear to be as big a benefit from the system - which stalls the rear wing at high-speed for a straight-line speed boost – as the team had originally hoped.

If further work on the device this season and over the winter does not yield more of an advantage, then there is a chance the team may elect not to feature it on its 2013 car.

When asked about the benefits of the design, Brawn said: "It is quite acute, and quite difficult to provide an overall performance gain.

"Obviously having that sort of device in the middle of the rear wing means you lose some overall performance which you hope to get back with the benefits that come from the device, but at the moment it is pretty neutral to be honest.

"We will carry on with it, and it is not costing us much in terms of track time because we run it for a few laps to get the data on a Friday morning.

"Whether it will see the light of day in anger, I don't know."

[Ganxxta]

Mercedes may choose to ditch passive double-DRS system in 2013
*snip*

Brilliant

They wasted so much free practice time running this device and so much resources to fine tune it -.-
Just like the DDRS or the passive DRS on the W01 or W02 (can't remember) while everyone was using easier McLaren style solutions -.-

I bet they will still use it in the beginning of the season, just to find out after 5-6 races that its not worth it.

[Morteza]

Mercedes may choose to ditch passive double-DRS system in 2013
*snip*

Brilliant

They wasted so much free practice time running this device and so much resources to fine tune it -.-
Just like the DDRS or the passive DRS on the W01 or W02 (can't remember) while everyone was using easier McLaren style solutions -.-

I bet they will still use it in the beginning of the season, just to find out after 5-6 races that its not worth it.

The thing is why they spend so much time and resources on things no other does. The search for a magic bullet has poisoned their minds. They have to get back to reality.

[wesley123]

Mercedes may choose to ditch passive double-DRS system in 2013
*snip*

Brilliant

They wasted so much free practice time running this device and so much resources to fine tune it -.-
Just like the DDRS or the passive DRS on the W01 or W02 (can't remember) while everyone was using easier McLaren style solutions -.-

I bet they will still use it in the beginning of the season, just to find out after 5-6 races that its not worth it.

Not a good thing at all. lot of teams will for sure try the Lotus style DDRS system, because it can give significant drag reduction. It just is complicated to get right, and yes, Merc will not be able to do so.

Merc will once again be nowhere next year, just because of stupid decisions and the teams inability, remember they did the same in 2011 with the EBD. 'it wouldnt be that significant', we all know it went otherwise.

[marcush.]

with huge amounts of body roll or more suspension travel as such the state of the art Formula 1 suspension layout will not really work as the long suspension arms will not give any meaningful camber recovery ..and that´s no good for grip you soften the suspension but the body roll will eat away the contact patch ...A formula 1 car is based on small suspension movements and minimised roll.

[elf341]

No obvious updates on the FW.

[stefan_]

[marcush.]

that cascade has not much in terms of AoA ? it looks much more like a flow conditioner .My impression is Sauber ,RedBull,Williams etc have a more obvious aiming of the airflow around the front wheels these days.