2017 Malaysia Grand Prix - Sepang, 29 September-01 October

[sosic2121]

Surely the Mercedes is the best car over the season, hence the lead in the WCC. So wouldn't it be a case of everyone else making their wheelbase longer ??

IMO, it's not the "long wheelbase" per say, but more a question of how a team achieves the best downforce. Mercedes opted to go for a longer wheelbase, because that is the concept they felt comfortable with (low rake). RedBull on the other hand, has always done well in getting a car to work with a lot of rake. Ferrari now has too. They are two completely different philosophies, one you can't simply change by shortening or lengthening the car from what I understand. It's very much tied to the rake of the car.

+1
Would you say Ferrari's floor/diffuser is producing more DF, but Mercedes diffuser is more efficient?

[godlameroso]

If anyone is interested, it looks like it will be a mostly dry weekend, although the race may start with a wet track. There's also a chance of rain during the race.

[GrandAxe]

Both Red Bull and Mercedes designed their cars around trick suspensions which the FIA ordered them to drop just as the season was about to kick off. Its very likely that Mercedes has stuck to the long wheel base through the season only because the penalties of changing would be too severe, so they've had to put up with a tyre hating diva - the W08 is like a fish out of water. Ferrari was easily the best car in the first few races, but have been out-developed by Merc.

If Merc doesn't not find a new way to incorporate the trick suspension concept the car was originally designed around, then the long wheel base will be gone next by season giving us a shorter wheel base W09.

Also, at the start of the season, Paddy Lowe mentioned that they'd been developing a shorter wheel base, higher rake concept in tandem with the current limo. Seeing the issues they currently have with their longer car, it wouldn't be a surprise if they've gone right on developing that concept for next season. That would also give something of a head start bonus.

Thank goodness for the suspension ban anyway, its added some spice to what might have been another of Mercedes domineering seasons.

[GrandAxe]

Surely the Mercedes is the best car over the season, hence the lead in the WCC. So wouldn't it be a case of everyone else making their wheelbase longer ??

IMO, it's not the "long wheelbase" per say, but more a question of how a team achieves the best downforce. Mercedes opted to go for a longer wheelbase, because that is the concept they felt comfortable with (low rake). RedBull on the other hand, has always done well in getting a car to work with a lot of rake. Ferrari now has too. They are two completely different philosophies, one you can't simply change by shortening or lengthening the car from what I understand. It's very much tied to the rake of the car.

+1
Would you say Ferrari's floor/diffuser is producing more DF, but Mercedes diffuser is more efficient?

The W08 is designed around generating downforce with the entire floor, which is why they have such a shallow rake and so many complicated aero bits around the tub and air inlets. Ferrari on the other hand is designed around a more efficient diffuser, which is why its angle of rake is so pronounced.

The Ferrari concept seems like the best way to go, considering that setup tends to malleable on all tracks and they perform competively even though they are relatively underpowered (or have poorer maps). Its most likely that Ferrari will keep their aero concept as a base for next season.

The immediate question is which concept will work best at this track though. My vote is for Ferrari in Malaysia with a surprise performance from Red Bull.

[WaikeCU]

One of the benefits of having Liberty as the new owners... is great content. The full race back in 2001 can be seen on the F1 youtube channel! Enjoy!

[WaikeCU]

[media]https://twitter.com/GrandPrixDiary/stat ... 8439569408[/media]

[Phil]

Oh this is gonna be good... Malaysia is what? 6 hours ahead (7 if you live in the UK)? So we might feel the press conference implode sometime in the morning....

[WaikeCU]

Oh this is gonna be good... Malaysia is what? 6 hours ahead (7 if you live in the UK)? So we might feel the press conference implode sometime in the morning....

popcorn for breakfast then!

[Singabule]

If anyone is interested, it looks like it will be a mostly dry weekend, although the race may start with a wet track. There's also a chance of rain during the race.

I put bet in wet race, since south east Asia currently on wet season. Very wet i tell you from here

[SectorOne]

The W08 is designed around generating downforce with the entire floor, which is why they have such a shallow rake and so many complicated aero bits around the tub and air inlets. Ferrari on the other hand is designed around a more efficient diffuser, which is why its angle of rake is so pronounced

Where did you get this information?

What i´ve read is that Mercedes tried a high-rake concept for 2017 but they just could not make it work so they simply made the car longer to get the downforce out of it.

The complicated aerobits have been around well before 2017, it´s just that 2017 regulations allow a lot more of them.

[TAG]

https://twitter.com/GrandPrixDiary/stat ... 8439569408

https://m.popkey.co/a818d6/4Vvbx.gif

They should also talk to the mysterious Ferrari twitterer.

[ChrisDanger]

They should also talk to the mysterious Ferrari twitterer.

They could probably be reached at home this weekend.

[TAG]

They should also talk to the mysterious Ferrari twitterer.

They could probably be reached at home this weekend.

You're saying it was Sergio?

[George-Jung]

The W08 is designed around generating downforce with the entire floor....

Isn’t this something that everybody is doing?

Probably you meant that they are generating their underbody downforce over a larger surface area?

[Artur Craft]

On a track like Singapore, every car is ran with max downforce and Red Bull had 10kph advantage over Ferrari on the final corner(205vs195kph). Ferrari doesn't have the highest downforce anymore and even if they did I don't think that would be enough on Sepang to fight against Mercedes power advantage.

Now that he'll have easily the fastest car again, Hamilton will be on pole and win. And, of course, the WCC and the WDC are already in the bag as almost all tracks will favour Mercedes

But I'm hopeful of some nice battles on the midfield as it's not impossible to pass on this track. And Sepang deserves an epic race as a farewell one