Mercedes AMG F1 W06

[Just_a_fan]

Interesting to see downwards flow in the centre of the endplate lower slots. Presumably this is influenced by the brake duct winglets in some way. I wonder if it is indicative of flow being used to seal the diffuser edge next to the wheel. Complex flows going on in that area.

[matt_s]

It's interesting how Merc are treating the innermost element of the FW (bottom right in the pic) compared to other teams. They have a pronounced turning vane directing flow to the outside of the tyre whereas most of the other teams are using that area for a winglet, (sometimes with a vortex generator) pointing to the inside of the wheel. The only other team with a detached turning vane like that is Lotus, who interestingly have the same nose as Merc.

[presure2]

i know its been said quite a few times with both the W05 & W06, but godDAMN that front wing is an amazing peice of art when viewed from above like that.
and this from a guy who is NOT a merc fan.

[PlatinumZealot]

It's interesting how Merc are treating the innermost element of the FW (bottom right in the pic) compared to other teams. They have a pronounced turning vane directing flow to the outside of the tyre whereas most of the other teams are using that area for a winglet, (sometimes with a vortex generator) pointing to the inside of the wheel. The only other team with a detached turning vane like that is Lotus, who interestingly have the same nose as Merc.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-m8dT ... 1L6632.jpg

Lotus invented the concept back in 2011.

[michl420]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-OcFakIQAAT-HC.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-MdQFVCUAARmL_.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-NDR6-CAAAZR95.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-M_bB6CUAAUxyg.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-MyLi1CEAAibwQ.jpg:large

Rear wing flap is getting bigger again.

[tranquility2k4]

I'm wondering what you guys think of the comments made by the Merc drivers about the car so far. Rosberg, has generally said very little, positive or negative, and has only referred to reliability. He's normally good with the team PR speak, so this is not unusual - but if the car felt great, I'm sure he'd go on about it a little more.

Hamilton on the other hand, always says what is on his mind, and at the first test effectively said either the car felt the same or that it doesn't feel very good, but then cars never do at the first test. But then in contrast you have Kimi and Vettel saying their car feels great to driver. Normally a great car does hook up very well right from the off right?

He then came out yesterday and had a huge moan about the tyres and how they're not working. Whilst this is to be expected during testing in such cold temperatures, I haven't seen any other driver moan about this so far this year. I can remember back in (either 2013 or 2012) when Red Bull in pariticular couldn't get their tyres working and this would lead them to degrade very quickly and Vettel was moaning about it saying it's impossible to test. Then look at what those cars went on to achieve. So it isn't necessarily such a bad thing - but there 'could' be cause for alarm as well.

Merc has changed its suspension this year, with the removal of FRIC, they did so mid-way through last year but have said to optimised it this year. Could it be that they're so soft on the tyres that they cannot get heat into them, almost like the Lotus of 2012/13? If so this could hurt them at some venues. Another reason for not generating heat into tyres is simply lack of downforce. If you recall, last year, Merc would always be miles ahead on the harder compound tyres, and the others would catch up with the softer tyres. This was partly because cars such as the Ferrari lacked the downforce to work the harder tyres for a single lap. Merc have admitted the nose change was a big problem to solve and I'm wondering whether their very thin nose design is simply not working correctly. Remember McLaren's issues from last year - they had too big a gap between the front wing main plane and nose and thus couldn't get any front-downforce, Nose changes usually cause issues with front-downforce and this could possilbly lead Lewis to think the tyres are not working, when in-fact the car simply has huge under-steer.

I'm a bit confused as to why Merc has not used any Soft tyres yet - all other teams have. It could be such that, as happens at some races (Barcelona often being one), that the harder compound simply doesn't work and when the soft tyre is put on the car is 'transformed'. It could be that when Merc do eventually put the soft on at the final test, they go 2 seconds faster than everyone and the car suddenly works. Will be interesting to see.

[NewtonMeter]

This year's testing is a bit of an enigma to me. On the one hand I've read reports from people at the track (at least at Jerez) that said the car looks like it handles well and that the long-run pace looks very good and consistent.

On the other hand, their tests are very low-key, both in terms of on-track times and team comments. Also, and I'm hesitant to say, they haven't topped a single day. In fact, I only recall them topping the morning session of the first day at Jerez. There's still plenty of testing to do, but the last time they didn't top a single day was in 2011. Not the most successful season (podium less).

So do I think that they'll have a 2011 season? Of course not. I sincerely think they haven't tried to do fast times at all and I also believe they've done very little soft tyre or low fuel running. Whereas many big-hitters have - Ferrari for example, just earlier today.

This is making the testing a bit frustrating because if this had been any year prior to 2014, we'd all just be thinking 'oh no, here we go again'. So to a certain extent, we're all having to go on faith that all is well, due to their results last year and a belief that they didn't --- it up badly - which I don't think they have.

That's my take on it anyway and for the moment I'm sticking with it.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Code: Select all

This year's testing is a bit of an enigma to me.  On the one hand I've read reports from people at the track (at least at Jerez) that said the car looks like it handles well and that the long-run pace looks very good and consistent.

On the other hand, their tests are very low-key, both in terms of on-track times and team comments.  Also, and I'm hesitant to say, they haven't topped a single day.  In fact, I only recall them topping the morning session of the first day at Jerez.  There's still plenty of testing to do, but the last time they didn't top a single day was in 2011.  Not the most successful season (podium less).

So do I think that they'll have a 2011 season?  Of course not.  I sincerely think they haven't tried to do fast times at all and I also believe they've done very little soft tyre or low fuel running.  Whereas many big-hitters have - Ferrari for example, just earlier today. 

This is making the testing a bit frustrating because if this had been any year prior to 2014, we'd all just be thinking 'oh no, here we go again'.  So to a certain extent, we're all having to go on faith that all is well, due to their results last year and a belief that they didn't --- it up badly - which I don't think they have.

That's my take on it anyway and for the moment I'm sticking with it.

When they ended the last season, they ended it in a massive way by keeping the formidable advantage of close to 2 seconds. With aero that was of top class and best of the breed PU, they had a class of field car. With very little change in regulations, they have a base that is super strong and I believe, they have the confidence that they have strengthened that base to create this car. BY now, they have their on track, wind tunnel, CFD and all other sorts of simulation numbers for this car to extrapolate and understand their ultimate pace and doesn't seem to be bothered about outright pace. The ghost that haunted them last year, was reliability. They are rightly going out there and simply pounding around, until something breaks. The good thing about last year's reliability failures was their ability to fix it once and for all, as there were no repeat problems. So that naturally makes reliability as number one factor for them to concentrate on.

If they believe they have considerable overall speed advantage, I doubt if they ever show (for the whole season) the real pace and would probably respond to competition and hold back everything. So expect Merc to play their own game.

[mrluke]

Mercedes are favorites and they know it, they are sandbagging and saying how the car isn't much better than last year.

On the other hand Ferrari had an awful year and really need to show that they have made a step forward, hence top of the timesheets and positive interviews

[TAG]

Way too much over thinking going on.

The racing adage goes, it's easier to make a fast car reliable than it is to make a reliable car fast. Mercedes are focusing on the thing they needed to focus on.

[NoDivergence]

How bout that 1'24.5 on Mediums, huh.....

[CjC]

How bout that 1'24.5 on Mediums, huh.....

rubbish!

its not as good as the 1m 24.3

[ferddy07]

I'm wondering what you guys think of the comments made by the Merc drivers about the car so far. Rosberg, has generally said very little, positive or negative, and has only referred to reliability. He's normally good with the team PR speak, so this is not unusual - but if the car felt great, I'm sure he'd go on about it a little more.

Hamilton on the other hand, always says what is on his mind, and at the first test effectively said either the car felt the same or that it doesn't feel very good, but then cars never do at the first test. But then in contrast you have Kimi and Vettel saying their car feels great to driver. Normally a great car does hook up very well right from the off right?

He then came out yesterday and had a huge moan about the tyres and how they're not working. Whilst this is to be expected during testing in such cold temperatures, I haven't seen any other driver moan about this so far this year. I can remember back in (either 2013 or 2012) when Red Bull in pariticular couldn't get their tyres working and this would lead them to degrade very quickly and Vettel was moaning about it saying it's impossible to test. Then look at what those cars went on to achieve. So it isn't necessarily such a bad thing - but there 'could' be cause for alarm as well.

Merc has changed its suspension this year, with the removal of FRIC, they did so mid-way through last year but have said to optimised it this year. Could it be that they're so soft on the tyres that they cannot get heat into them, almost like the Lotus of 2012/13? If so this could hurt them at some venues. Another reason for not generating heat into tyres is simply lack of downforce. If you recall, last year, Merc would always be miles ahead on the harder compound tyres, and the others would catch up with the softer tyres. This was partly because cars such as the Ferrari lacked the downforce to work the harder tyres for a single lap. Merc have admitted the nose change was a big problem to solve and I'm wondering whether their very thin nose design is simply not working correctly. Remember McLaren's issues from last year - they had too big a gap between the front wing main plane and nose and thus couldn't get any front-downforce, Nose changes usually cause issues with front-downforce and this could possilbly lead Lewis to think the tyres are not working, when in-fact the car simply has huge under-steer.

I'm a bit confused as to why Merc has not used any Soft tyres yet - all other teams have. It could be such that, as happens at some races (Barcelona often being one), that the harder compound simply doesn't work and when the soft tyre is put on the car is 'transformed'. It could be that when Merc do eventually put the soft on at the final test, they go 2 seconds faster than everyone and the car suddenly works. Will be interesting to see.

I wouldn't read too much into those comments. If the aim of your question is trying to guage how competitive the Merc is, the general concensus is that the Merc still has an advantage over the rest of the field. According to the Sky-F1 report from yesterday, the advantage is about 0.5 sec a lap at this early stage.

http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/s ... test-day-3

Even vettel had this to say

http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/12474 ... fast-start

with all the usual caveat that go with testing, this could be wrong either way, since Mercedes haven't really cranked up their engine and are clearly not going for performance. There's also Williams, who none of the track side pundits have been able to decipher yet. The truth is we really won't find out until possibly 4-5 races into the season.

[SiLo]

They are focussing on the important parts of the races, where the cars are heavy with fuel and how they look after the tyres. If they can run well with lots of fuel on board, and look after their tyres well, they wouldn't even need to worry about qualifying as they will breeze past people in the race, where the points are won.

It's like they are taking a leaf out of Hamiltons book. Focus on being fastest on Sunday. Saturday will generally take care of itself.

[PlatinumZealot]

Ok... Championship over before it even begins! Let's just give it to mercedes now.