Williams FW37 Mercedes

[PlatinumZealot]

I like the way the Williams sidepods kind of terminate in a semi-circle opening around the entire gearbox area of the car. All the other cars have rear suspension wishbones stuck awkwardly close to (and in parallel with) sidepod bodywork, and they have wishbone legs protruding thru awkward holes in the sidepod that can't be good for the aero intent. The Williams doesn't have those little bits of inefficiency. I'm surprised no other team has copied it, because it seems to consistently work well for Williams (except for the 2013 coanda fiasco, not fault of sidepod outlet). I suspect the Williams layout helps suck air out of the sidepod which reduces drag and plays a major role in the consistent Williams top-speed advantage.

The other teams have those kinds of exits to keep the flow as laminar as possible in that area. Williams seems to have to achieved that without the long frock like exits.

[PlatinumZealot]

Pat Symonds on the aero and suspension development of the FW37. And shots fired at Ron Dennis.

http://en.espnf1.com/williams/motorspor ... 93647.html

Exerpt:

Last year with the new noses, was it the case that actually the impact on them, because of the way you can design them, wasn't that huge?

Yes, that's true. But there were a lot of other changes as well. Isolating them out was not so obvious as it was this year where it was really just a single change and we went, 'OK'. There was a lot of work around the front end, understanding what we needed to do with the lower nose, and then at the back end of our car, because we'd identified there were certainly some limitations there we really started straight from the beginning with a different philosophy of lowering the lower wishbones to improve the flow around there. That then rewarded the central pillar wing which we hadn't found rewarded before because we were then able to alter the rear wing end plates. Nothing is in isolation, it's all part of a philosophy and that philosophy works quite well.

Read more at http://en.espnf1.com/williams/motorspor ... 18VJvqu.99

Did the ban on Front and Rear Interconnected (FRIC) suspension lead to a major change in design for this year's car?

Not as such. The interconnect used on the Williams was quite a simple system; certainly I was surprised when I arrived how simple it was. Having been involved in the original one at what was then Renault and then having developed it significantly further at Marussia, I was surprised that it was a really basic device. On top of that, with aerodynamics we weren't as rewarded by the interconnect as I believe other cars were. So taking it off wasn't a really big deal for us because we didn't lose a lot of performance. We had to lift ride height but we didn't have a lot of ride height to begin with. That isn't to say we haven't looked quite carefully at suspension geometry this year - one of the complaints of the drivers last year was coming out of corners we had combined lateral and traction events going on. I certainly felt there were things that could be done with suspension to improve that and over winter they have reported a big improvement on that.

Read more at http://en.espnf1.com/williams/motorspor ... 18VJvqu.99

[Moose]

It's so nice to hear people talking about suspension, and mechanical grip, and not just aero, aero, aero.

[Morteza]

Formula1.com

[f1316]

It's so nice to hear people talking about suspension, and mechanical grip, and not just aero, aero, aero.

Yes, say what you will about the 2014 onwards formula but it has at least opened up a variety of avenues for development, many of which are mechanical (with aerodynamics still being extremely important but they, and particularly exhaust influenced aero, are no longer the dominating factor).

To be honest, if one team hadn't done so much of a better job than all the others then it would probably be an extremely open, intriguing and exciting championship (both last year and this).

[Sevach]

And shots fired at Ron Dennis.

Dennis is gonna need some ointment for that one

[LookBackTime]

Craig Scarborough ‏@ScarbsF1
Williams thumb nose gains it's trademark 'driver cooling' slot

[LookBackTime]

[LookBackTime]

[Thefuelman]

http://www.formula1.com/wi/enlarge/sutt ... 10ma63.jpg

Its crazy to think that the wing is attatched using those small metal stubs at the end of the pylons. How they manage to support the aero load of a number of tonnes is insane.

[PlatinumZealot]

Steel is very strong in tension. You could lift the whole car with a bolt that size.

[michl420]

http://www.formula1.com/wi/enlarge/sutt ... 10ma63.jpg

Its crazy to think that the wing is attatched using those small metal stubs at the end of the pylons. How they manage to support the aero load of a number of tonnes is insane.

A normal screw this size holds about 6.5 tons static. It`s just physic. But it "looks" fragile.

[Hail22]

Thursday Morning 12/03/2015:



Source: GP Update

[markp]

Is the nose on the left different? It looks like there is a scallop in the side of the thumb or is it a trick of the light?

[PhillipM]

I see what you mean, but I'm pretty certain it's a shadow from the stand