Mercedes F1 W05 Pre-launch Speculation

[PhillipM]

Merc has two short, light drivers, of course they don't want the weight cap raised

Still, bit of a two fingered salute to all the drivers already struggling with current cars just because they were born a few inches too tall.

[astracrazy]

Id like them to cut the green down, this seasons silver with W01 black petronas logos.

nah, the black didn't seem to go. The only thing that i kinda liked from the w01 was the brushed metal effect

I preferred the w03 with the slightly brighter green and sliver

[dans79]

personally I'd like to see something like this, but obviously switch out the Vodafone red for Petronas green.

[Anon123]

personally I'd like to see something like this, but obviously switch out the Vodafone red for Petronas green.

http://wtf1.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/20 ... nBlack.jpg

A bit like this?

[ScottB]

Can't see it being anything other than silver given the marketing angle, though a bit of a refresh on the general livery of the last few years would be nice!

[dans79]

A bit like this?

http://oi40.tinypic.com/2csi5hw.jpg

Yea, it's got a lot more bite than the current livery.

[Anon123]

Merc has two short, light drivers, of course they don't want the weight cap raised

Still, bit of a two fingered salute to all the drivers already struggling with current cars just because they were born a few inches too tall.

I looked up the weights of the drivers and the Merc drivers aren't that light compared to some of the other teams, Hamilton and Rosberg are 68kg and 71kg respectively whilst Vettel and Ricciardo are 58kg and 64kg respectively. Hamilton has said on twitter though that he is trying to lose weight for next season.

[Huntresa]

Merc has two short, light drivers, of course they don't want the weight cap raised

Still, bit of a two fingered salute to all the drivers already struggling with current cars just because they were born a few inches too tall.

I looked up the weights of the drivers and the Merc drivers aren't that light compared to some of the other teams, Hamilton and Rosberg are 68kg and 71kg respectively whilst Vettel and Ricciardo are 58kg and 64kg respectively. Hamilton has said on twitter though that he is trying to lose weight for next season.

But how thats weight is distrubuted is important aswell, comparing to Ricciardo and Webber for example they are both pretty tall and wider then some others, i mean we had reports of Ricciardo not fitting in the RB cause of his thigs and hips.

[PhillipM]

Yep, being tall is not a good thing for car performance or packaging.

[SiLo]

personally I'd like to see something like this, but obviously switch out the Vodafone red for Petronas green.

http://wtf1.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/20 ... nBlack.jpg

A bit like this?

http://oi40.tinypic.com/2csi5hw.jpg

More teal, less green. But that dark silver looks fantastic, I hope they do something like that!

[henra]

Right, apparently Red Bull/Newey desperately want the weight cap raised. Bearing that in mind, Mercedes would be nuts to go along with anything they don't need themselves. "Merry Xmas, Newey. Enjoy the veto! Sorry we forgot to wrap it!"

Source?

[dans79]

Source?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/111713

Efforts to bring forward a 10kg rise in the weight limit to 700kg, which has been agreed for 2015, have so far been thwarted by opposition from one team - believed to be Mercedes - because unanimous support is required to make the change now.

http://grandprix247.com/2013/12/10/form ... -for-2014/

Because the proposal was to raise the limit for 2014, it needed an unanimous vote, but correspondent Andrew Benson said that Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus all declined.

the weight limit has been known since early July, and im sure teams knew about the proposal even before that.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/108682

Imo, teams & drivers are just going to have to live with the fact that life isn't always fair. They should have raised objections much earlier, not at the last minute.

[gray41]

I think Lewis' weight loss was tongue in cheek in about the 20+ bags of sweets he'd been sent.

[kooleracer]

I think Lewis' weight loss was tongue in cheek in about the 20+ bags of sweets he'd been sent.

No, its not. He said after the race in Brazil in an interview with Skysportf1 also. Lewis has a lot of muscle. He needs to shrink down again to the Lewis of 08.

[PlatinumZealot]

I think this ballast thing is being taken a bit too far. At the end of the day a few kilograms more for a driver at pretty much the centre of the car versus a 3 or 4kgs ballast a few centimeters away might not affect the balance that much can it? Imagine how small an effect this is when compared to the balance change that a huge VARIABLE amount of fuel presents. And yes, the balance will show up most in qualifying.. but with Pirelli cheesy tires and torque monsters of engines, it wont matter much for the race anyways.