Team: Toto Wolff (Executive Director - Business), Paddy Lowe (Executive Director - Technical), Andy Cowell (Executive Director of Mercedes AMG Powertrains), Niki Lauda (Chairman), Bob Bell (TD), Aldo Costa (ED), Geoffrey Willis (Technology Director), Ron Meadows (SD), Andrew Shovlin (CRE), Simon Cole (CTE), Matthew Dane (CM) Drivers: Lewis Hamilton (44), Nico Rosberg (6) Team name: Mercedes AMG F1 Petronas
A place to discuss the characteristics of the cars in Formula One, both current as well as historical. Laptimes, driver worshipping and team chatter do not belong here.
RicME85 wrote:In an Autosport article today Rosberg says they have sorted the issues that effected them last season at this race so I assume its an uprated cooling that as part of the overall package will help to stop the energy store from over heating.
The initial problem was the electric pack overheating and we have sorted that for this year because this is the most challenging track for that.
Was that something done just for this race or was that quoted from the beginning of the season?
RicME85 wrote:In an Autosport article today Rosberg says they have sorted the issues that effected them last season at this race so I assume its an uprated cooling that as part of the overall package will help to stop the energy store from over heating.
The initial problem was the electric pack overheating and we have sorted that for this year because this is the most challenging track for that.
Was that something done just for this race or was that quoted from the beginning of the season?
I would assume for this race.
Nico Rosberg says Mercedes has made changes to prevent a repeat of the Montreal-specific problem that ended its Formula 1 winning streak in last year's Canadian Grand Prix.
Mercedes was hunting a sixth consecutive F1 one-two finish in Montreal 12 months ago before battery pack problems intervened.
The kinetic energy recover system (ERS-K) had failed and had a knock-on effect on the rear brakes. Lewis Hamilton retired because of the issue, while Rosberg salvaged second.
"We had electric motor problems or battery pack problems," said Rosberg. "They were overheating so that shut down.
"Then because you don't have any harvesting during braking on the rear you need to compensate and use the rear brakes more and as a result we had brake problems.
"The initial problem was the electric pack overheating and we have sorted that for this year because this is the most challenging track for that.
"Why? Probably because the straights are the longest here and you are using the most power for long distances, maybe that's why its overheating here the most.
"But we should have that under control."
Rosberg believes the main technical headache for teams in Canada this year will be the same tyre warm-up problems that were prevalent with the super-soft and soft in Monaco.
"Tyre warm-up will be an issue here as well," said the German.
"The super-soft is a bit harder also than last year's and that makes it a little more challenging than last year in qualifying so it will be on the edge.
"The temperature is not supposed to be too hot so let's see. It is going to be a challenge."
RicME85 wrote:In an Autosport article today Rosberg says they have sorted the issues that effected them last season at this race so I assume its an uprated cooling that as part of the overall package will help to stop the energy store from over heating.
The initial problem was the electric pack overheating and we have sorted that for this year because this is the most challenging track for that.
Ah! Now where know where the KERS cooler is. Right where you see the buldge.
Watching FP1, hearing from David and Ted about the advantage the new ICE bringing to Mercs. The First ICE had some problems related to "Knocking" due to which they were not running the highest possible mode (+20 BHP ) of engine in Races, although they were able to do it in Quali and that is the reason why they were so far ahead in qualifying. In the new ICE, they have resolved that problem (the PU can go higher on the Knocking limit), which means they can now run their highest power mode for races too. Ferrari has been operating at their highest power mode in Races as it stands.
Tire is relatively big and undamped compared to the wheel + losing traction. Must have been a 'perfect storm' to happen in such an extreme way on an F1 car. But it totally reminds me of the 'tire shake' you'll see on a funny car.
It's likely that the tire is not up to pressure yet either. Obviously the pressure and temperature are related, so as a car goes out on cold tires, the pressures are low, and they increase as they heat up. The driver may have even been sliding the rear around the corner (hard to tell from that angle) to generate more tire slip and therefore more heat aswell, accentuating the wobble.
As far as the pic of the floor of the merc, and whether or not there's a venturi tunnel there, I think not. Mercecedes has, for a while now, run a floor that is substantially thicker than others, except at the edge, which results in this rounded step down to the edge. I think it has to do with a type of honeycomb structure the floor is made of. You can see the thickness of the floor only changes at the one step there near the edge, and then is consistent up to the sidepod and going back. The underside of the floor does not have a corresponding step, from what I've seen - it is flat across.
The tire certainly is vibrating "too much". Deformation too has been previously visible, but on this scale is just too large. I assume it must have been on an out-lap or something.
