Mercedes F1 W05 Pre-launch Speculation

[gray41]

Hope they stick the numbers in that gap.

[Faustino]

This is clearer.

[daveyrace]

Oh dear! Lets just hope the engine is as powerful as they say, to push that lot through the air!

As Manoah2u says, the section between the top of the chassis and the camera winglets looks quite steep, steeper than the Ferrari which is rounded more. Then it levels out a bit more after that. They obviously want to get any air that is on top of the nose to drop round and under the winglets then the suspension much like ferrari. Where the big Merc logo is I think looks almost at the tip of the nose. the shadows are curving from there but are cut off from the image. Maybe it follows that slight rounded profile but on the Ferrari hoover shape which has a straight top edge.

[NewtonMeter]

What the heck are those?

Gattling gun mounts.

[markn93]

To be honest they shouldn't come as a surprise as they are evident on the picture from Auto Sprint. Still convinced that's the car.

[skgoa]

Someone on reddit managed to cap this from the promotional video:

[dren]

A rather abrupt step down on the nose.

[PlatinumZealot]

It is like the Ferrari nose for sure.

hmm

[dren]

It is like the Ferrari nose for sure.

hmm

Yup

Interesting similarity between those. Lower CoG and maybe a little bit of nose DF?

[theformula]

With regards to the nose. If it is indeed similar to the ferrari, what do people think of this concept? Does it seem any better than the likes of McLaren's concept? I know that we are all just speculating, but it will be interesting to hear what people think?

[gray41]

Would this/Ferrari nose create front end downforce?

Confidence in the amount they are going to produce at the rear?

[LightningLewis]

Would this/Ferrari nose create front end downforce?

Confidence in the amount they are going to produce at the rear?

I think I heard that it create front downforce but not so much rear downforce. Scarb explanes it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkt5k-x4 ... verview-vl

[daveyrace]

From my understanding of it I would have thought it depends on your chassis height and therefore positioning of front suspension.
If your design relies on a high chassis then maybe a hoover nose maximises the air flow to the back of the car by having some going between the pylons and the rest over the side of the nose and under the front suspension.
If the chassis is lower then a Mclaren type nose will make more use of the space between the nose pylons for air flow as the suspension components are in a lower position and airflow over the top is not as useful to them.

Whichever one is better, the chassis cannot be as high next year (regulation changes) so Mercedes and Ferrari will have to change their design philosophy for the front suspension after this year. Many seem to have gone for a lower chassis (Mclaren the lowest so far), this may help in the long-run, maybe the merc and ferrari will have a slight advantage for this year? who knows? bring on testing!

I hope I made sense

[Morteza]

As awkward as it is/looks, I'm glad it is no finger nose like the other cars

[PlatinumZealot]

All the noses are already low.. so maybe the difference between he vacuum nose and the finger pen*s things are not so different. The vacuum noses may even better at giving a nice even laminar flow of air.