Mercedes AMG F1 W04

[dren]

Yes, the rear has been cleaned up quite a bit. The cooling outlet is quite small now, around the gearbox. This certainly has improved the rear flow.

[DAMNINice]

thanks for the picture!!



seems like they iterated the Driveshaft inclosing Suspension arm.

Last week they had the protoype style cooling inlets ontop of it.

now they seem to have some inlets but without building ontop of it.

nice to see some improvemnts in short time and the attention to detail.

[elf341]

This diffuser looks essentially W03-spec to me. Or am I not seeing the updates?

[Owen.C93]

It is, they have a new one but only ran it a couple of time.

[GrizzleBoy]

For anyone watching the SKY F1 feed, does anyone else think the merc looks super rakey, particularly through the chicane at the end of the lap?

[Forza]

regarding cooling exits:
There seems to be two obvious schools of thought with regards to sidepod exits, one is the Red Bull exit just ahead of the beam wing with a large hole. It's obvious Red Bull's solution impedes flow under the rear wing quite a bit which is why their primary competitors have opted for the lower exit area around the rear suspension area thus providing a far slimmer area directly in front of the beam wing but at the cost of a small amount of area around the suspension. I'm wondering if this is going to be the year Red Bull rethink that platform as from my perspective the flow lost traveling under the wing is more valuable than the dirty flow gained around the rear suspension.

You have to consider that teams also tend to put the cooling exit in the low pressure area which provides better extraction and induces the flow under the engine cover. Back in the days they tend to put a little vane after the exit to create the similar effect. It can be used to reduce the wake behind the car but it's more about internal aero.

[flyboy2160]

Looking at the diffuser pic, why are they running what looks like a small "wall" on the outer edge of it?
Won´t that hinder the exhaust gases to encapsulate the outsides of the diffuser-flow?

they could be vortex generators. vortices can also be used to try to 'seal' a flow path.

[Ferraripilot]

For anyone watching the SKY F1 feed, does anyone else think the merc looks super rakey, particularly through the chicane at the end of the lap?

From the pics I've seen, the car looks as if it's running a great deal of rake compared to everyone except Red Bull who they are perhaps about on par with rake-wise.

[Ferraripilot]

You have to consider that teams also tend to put the cooling exit in the low pressure area which provides better extraction and induces the flow under the engine cover. Back in the days they tend to put a little vane after the exit to create the similar effect. It can be used to reduce the wake behind the car but it's more about internal aero.

Great post, thank you. Several teams have opted out of the Red Bull higher exit in the past couple years. While they have not completed dropped all exiting from that area, they have spread the exit to a more broad area which minimizes the venting size at any one particular area. A sort of comparison would be a 1 valve exhaust head vs 3 valve exhaust head. They must have collectively found some internal aero benefit to doing so.

[OppositeLock]

Mercedes aren't missing many tricks this season. They are matching the competition. The back of the car looks tidy.

[stefan_]

Barcelona (Test 3, Session 2) - Day 1 (28.02.2013)

Suspension/exhaust layout (top view)
http://www.formule1.nl/media/uploads/me ... 136.51.jpg
http://www.formule1.nl/media/uploads/me ... 136.95.jpg

Wheel hub
http://www.formule1.nl/media/uploads/me ... 142.34.jpg

http://www.formule1.nl/media/uploads/me ... 145.28.jpg
http://www.formule1.nl/media/uploads/me ... 146.61.jpg

[MercAMGF1Fans]

[GrizzleBoy]

On the top down pics of the exhaust area......

Anybody have any idea what that row of gold/bronze looking doodads are sitting behind the "planks of wood"?

Check the hi-res pics for a better view.

[Ferraripilot]

If W04 has an ace up its sleeve, it's due to the partial u-sidepods they have going which not only help the exhaust directioning but the partial u-pod is fed air which attaches itself (as outlined in an earlier post) very well with the aid of these lovely triple vortex generators. This car will be one to watch if they keep on it.

[Ferraripilot]

On the top down pics of the exhaust area......

Anybody have any idea what that row of gold/bronze looking doodads are sitting behind the "planks of wood"?

Check the hi-res pics for a better view.

Heat sensors is my best guess.