Mercedes AMG F1 W03

[wesley123]

i think they repacked and slimmed their sidepods below the exhaust, like Mclaren did in Germany for a better flow.
thats why all of a suddent they burned bodywork
its an easy fix, nothing to worry about.

No one apart from Merc is having problems with burned bodywork. And with Mercs way of fixing things I'd doubt it is an easy fix for them

[elf341]

No one apart from Merc is having problems with burned bodywork

Ferrari had it at the start of the season, seems they managed to overcome it.

[Morteza]

[Dragonfly]

They better focus on making a car at least as good as Lotus without the Coanda exhausts instead of trying to find the lost 2009 silver bullet.

[Ganxxta]

Whilst Lotus have concentrated on updates to their 'Coanda' exhausts, Mercedes have continued to evaluate their 'double DRS' system in Abu Dhabi.[...]
Ross Brawn has suggested it is unlikely we will see this system on the 2013 Mercedes.

I'll leave this heroic test effort for nothing uncommented this time.

Edit: scratch that
They are now "evaluating" this system for the 4th(?) race in a row during the FPs and they admitting that it won't be usefull for next year.
So why the F*** are they doing this then? They don't use it this year and they won't use it next year apparently.

Yes I'm mad

[marcush.]

why not waste valuable fp time to evaluate a part you have no intention to race this or next year...hey we have no better things to evaluate anyways..so plough on with what we have to show we try hard...

Maybe the added 44millions are needed to get rid of some expensive people? Unfortunatelly Brawn seems to be still safe.I wonder how long.

Lauda still prefers to sit on the fence ...very quiet .is he just cashing in on them and leave it at that ...wouldn´t be surprised.

[Adamski]

Usually I agree with you guys but now I don't. If you would read all the interview with Brawn about the passive DDRS (where he said it is very unlikely to race it next year) than you are know that he also said in that interview that testing this device is not a big deal.

They are doing some constant straight-line speed test for 3-4 laps at the starts of FP1 when everybody just doing their installation laps. They are not pushing the tires and combine it with their own installation laps so it's clearly not a big deal.

Anyway if it's a great device why should Brawn hint it for others? If they will implement it in the W04 they will be much more ahead of the teams who don't test it this year. I think it's very logical now to run it and learn as much as possible for next year.

[dren]

Usually I agree with you guys but now I don't. If you would read all the interview with Brawn about the passive DDRS (where he said it is very unlikely to race it next year) than you are know that he also said in that interview that testing this device is not a big deal.

They are doing some constant straight-line speed test for 3-4 laps at the starts of FP1 when everybody just doing their installation laps. They are not pushing the tires and combine it with their own installation laps so it's clearly not a big deal.

Anyway if it's a great device why should Brawn hint it for others? If they will implement it in the W04 they will be much more ahead of the teams who don't test it this year. I think it's very logical now to run it and learn as much as possible for next year.

I was going to post the same thing. It's not like they are throwing all of their resources into testing the DDRS. They are only running it a few laps in FP1 for data.

[Vasconia]

I sincerely think that Brawn is not telling the thruth, its part of the traditional strategy in F1, they say one thing they do the opposite.

[MercAMGF1Fans]

Truth is that the w03 is a failed project, all parts being put on the car now in fp1 for the remainder of the season is for 2013
and Michael will be driving a "mule" in fp1 at Brazil.

[godlameroso]

I could have sworn that it was the case since after the summer break, Brawn's team seems to be able to come out with a cracking design that does well at first, but one that just seems to get worse with continued development. Maybe they're morons. Or maybe their target was a pole and a win and seeing as how the target was met, they have basically been developing next year's car pretty much since after the summer break. It could definitely explain why they've been going backwards rather than forwards. I mean if your aim is to test parts, then you're not overly concerned with pace. To a certain extent I think most teams do this, that is, usually make the number two driver the test driver, while the other car is tailored to win the race.

With Lewis arriving next year, Mercedes has two good drivers, plus whatever Hamilton brings with him, plus a car that has had half a year of development with the newly acquired technical staff. We also know that the car is going to be a clean sheet design rather than an evolution. The thing is by now, I'm sure most teams understand the design direction, they've seen this year what works what doesn't what's legal what's illegal. So I expect Mercedes to start taking things rather seriously after this season. Especially now that Mercedes is starting to throw it's money around.

[elf341]

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/doubl ... des-brawn/

"Today there is a lot of, let's say, smart technology around the front wings. But we had our system, and our wings were designed around this concept.
"When it became clear from what others were doing what the potential was of another philosophy, maybe we should have taken a step back."
"As you say, there are some 'structural' considerations that we have seen this year,"

Would seem to imply that Mercedes were not invested in flexi-wings, or lighter composites? Surprising, since I thought that the W02 late in the 2011 season displayed clear flexi-fw behaviour...

Either way, it's an interesting admission of another point of pit-lane consensus that the team did not pick up on. I've said this before though, it's hard too be too dismissive of the team, since they really did look like heroes with the DDRS early season. Their biggest mistake is not being reactionary enough. They should take a leaf out of Ferrari's book if they can - they are the best reactionary team in terms of development out there in my opinion.

[NewtonMeter]

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/doubl ... des-brawn/

"Today there is a lot of, let's say, smart technology around the front wings. But we had our system, and our wings were designed around this concept.
"When it became clear from what others were doing what the potential was of another philosophy, maybe we should have taken a step back."
"As you say, there are some 'structural' considerations that we have seen this year,"

Would seem to imply that Mercedes were not invested in flexi-wings, or lighter composites? Surprising, since I thought that the W02 late in the 2011 season displayed clear flexi-fw behaviour...

Either way, it's an interesting admission of another point of pit-lane consensus that the team did not pick up on. I've said this before though, it's hard too be too dismissive of the team, since they really did look like heroes with the DDRS early season. Their biggest mistake is not being reactionary enough. They should take a leaf out of Ferrari's book if they can - they are the best reactionary team in terms of development out there in my opinion.

Reading that link is really painful as a MercAMG fan. I love this team very dearly, but someone in the team is consistently making the wrong development decisions.

- There was the SWB of the W02, which would have worked well, but they didn't think that EBDs would become as powerful
- There was the focussing on tyres, which would have worked well, but they didn't think that the EBDs would become as powefull (de ja vu)
- Now there is this FW revelation which follows the same story

I kinda feel for Ross, because he seems to be the fall guy. And it's true that the buck has to stop somewhere. But it seems to me he's putting his trust in people who have a habit of making wrong decisions.

Coming from a massive MB fan here.

[FoxHound]

Brawn is speaking specifically in relation to the Red Bull flexing nose cone.

The W02 had flexing wings in a response to the Red Bull idea. But what wasn't seen at the time was that the entire front nose cone is made to flex.
People wondered how at speed Red Bull managed to get the front wing down to the ground near enough....all explained by the nose flex.
The DDRS idea is in fact a very good one, more ingenious than rubberising a front nosecone. However, you are limited by potential. It is not a development that will continuously pay dividends.

The closer that front wing is to the ground, the better. Not only this, but you can run a softer suspension set up with this, and a decent amount of rake if it is set up properly....how many times have we seen Red Bull scraping their planks and getting the spllitter adjusted?

It is flexing technology, and it should be banned. But this is the FIA, and they cant prove rain in a monsoon.

[jav]

Interesting observation but hard to pallet in the grand scheme of things. My understanding is that Mercs problems have been the inability to create sufficent rear down force, which required front down force sacrifices in the name of balance. Many factors have been blamed, lack of EBD development, SWB, high COG etc... now cunning body work.

I don't believe additional front down force would help them without a corresponding increase at the rear... which they have not been able to implement. Unless, the earodynamics of the front flex yield significant enough flow changes at the rear to selectivley impact rear down force.

What this team needs more than anything else is a significant increase and improvement of in season technical analysis and development.