Manjhi wrote:My god didn't notice that how much slim is that Ferrari.
What has happened to the Williams ? Did they miss understood the phrase "sand bagging" and are actually putting sand bags in the sidepods or the Mercs is not sharing tech details of the complete package with them
The three Mercedes-engined teams have all gone for different approaches to cooling.
Mercedes have pushed all the bulk as far forward and high up as possible in the sidepods with a big undercut below the intakes, exchanging a large frontal area and the accompanying drag for the maximum possible airflow over the floor. They also have the longest wheelbase on the grid, giving plenty of room for a very narrow midsection.
Williams have gone for a low-drag approach, their sidepods are very narrow across the front with the bulk of cooling packaged in the midsection, and a substantial undercut all the way round to ensure respectable airflow over the floor. The midsection
is somewhat bulky, but exaggerated by Williams running the shortest wheelbase on the grid.
Force India can only be described as having screwed up on cooling requirements. Their sidepods are as wide as the Mercedes without any of the undercut, so they have probably the highest frontal drag from sidepods of any team, and despite running the second longest wheelbase the midsection really isn't that narrow. Lot of drag, not much area for airflow over the floor, overall just far more cooling than needed, which the team has admitted and may try to correct with a B-spec car.
Overall the Mercedes engine seems to require quite a lot of cooling, even the works team has larger sidepods than RB, STR, McLaren or Ferrari, just not as much cooling as Force India seemed to think.
