Mercedes-AMG F1 W10 EQ Power+

[pantherxxx]

What's the point of building a B spec car? I think it means that they had massive problems with their A spec, so they had to bring these rushed out updates. Reminds me of Mclaren last year.

those pieces are carbon fibre and not made of silly putty to be created in just 5 days

Amus takes a look at new Mercedes

https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... ik-update/

New aero package dates back to the beginning of January.

The car last week was mainly a testing vehicle to carry out system checks. They wanted 5 more days in the wind tunnel.

Compared to the car shown at the initial launch, "every aerodynamic surface has changed".

I understand that you can't build those aero elements in 5 days. It's like they have already built the A spec car, when they've realized that it's not gonna be good. They wasted their resources and wind tunnel time on a car, that will not be used at all in real conditions.

[siskue2005]

What's the point of building a B spec car? I think it means that they had massive problems with their A spec, so they had to bring these rushed out updates. Reminds me of Mclaren last year.

those pieces are carbon fibre and not made of silly putty to be created in just 5 days

Amus takes a look at new Mercedes

https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... ik-update/

New aero package dates back to the beginning of January.

The car last week was mainly a testing vehicle to carry out system checks. They wanted 5 more days in the wind tunnel.

Compared to the car shown at the initial launch, "every aerodynamic surface has changed".

I understand that you can't build those aero elements in 5 days. It's like they have already built the A spec car, when they've realized that it's not gonna be good. They wasted their resources and wind tunnel time on a car, that will not be used at all in real conditions.

did you read the link above?

[RZS10]

They have probably just produced an earlier iteration of their aero concept without 'wasting' any resources on two 'different' versions of the car ... but that's just a guess

[Vanja #66]

About that Scarboni tweet, didn't we have just that discussion in 2017,where Red Bull were very 'clean' with barge boards, only to then turn out to have trouble getting it right, with much more complex stuff as the year developed (and with a less powerful PU so they had to be careful about drag?)

Might still be some truth there, but doubt it is that straightforward.

Scalabroni is mentioning flow correctors. There are enhancements as well. There is a difference, in my view. Not every piece of aero sculpted carbon is used to enhance flow, and it also seems there are many of those on Merc.

[paddyf1]

What's the point of building a B spec car? I think it means that they had massive problems with their A spec, so they had to bring these rushed out updates. Reminds me of Mclaren last year.

https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... ik-update/

or

https://translate.google.com/translate? ... -update%2F

The first car was (as previously speculated in this thread) nothing but a test mule to test the internals and the mechanical side of things.

corrected translation from the article
"To be clear, this overhauled Silver Arrow is not a response to the Super-Ferrari. That is impossible within a week. This Aero package was created at the beginning of January and was finished to be ready on time for the second week of testing.

The reason is simple: "Five more days in the wind tunnel. We wanted to get our Melbourne specification ready as late as possible, but still early enough to test it," the engineers explain. Now comes the kicker: "Compared to the presentation model, every aerodynamic surface has changed." "

Does anyone see any difference in the front suspension? It's supposedly thicker and therefore longer and more "wing like" but i can't spot the difference.

The mirror stalks appear to be connect to the mirrors more inwards, even if just marginally.

They've dropped the cooling outlet behind the halo, that area is a lot smoother now with the 'classic' cooling vents next to the driver's head returning.

It does not mean the spec a car was a dud, these new parts wouldve been planned months in advance, it wouldve been planned all along.

[dren]

Look how tight the body work is, along with the downward slope to drop the flow to the floor.

[GPR-A]

So, if this was the aerodynamic iteration that went into production in early January, then we can expect either a fully refined iteration of the same OR more upgrades by Barcelona.

[dren]

About that Scarboni tweet, didn't we have just that discussion in 2017,where Red Bull were very 'clean' with barge boards, only to then turn out to have trouble getting it right, with much more complex stuff as the year developed (and with a less powerful PU so they had to be careful about drag?)

Might still be some truth there, but doubt it is that straightforward.

Scalabroni is mentioning flow correctors. There are enhancements as well. There is a difference, in my view. Not every piece of aero sculpted carbon is used to enhance flow, and it also seems there are many of those on Merc.

Thoughts on the cape? Looks like it's sucking in air over the neutral part to feed the diffuser.

[santos]

Why would a team build a car for just a week of test? It's not a livery, it's a lot of parts that cost to build. This is just my opinion, but could this be some upgrade planned for later in the season that they already knew it would give better performance? And when they came in the first test didn't expected that rivals could be in very strong shape.

[GPR-A]

Look how tight the body work is, along with the downward slope to drop the flow to the floor.

https://imgr4.auto-motor-und-sport.de/M ... 431202.jpg

When W09 was launched, James Allison in a video explanation had mentioned that, the tightening of side pods on W09 alone gave them 0.2 of a second in performance. I am sure the new "tightness" would offer similar if not more gains on that alone. That could amplify a bit more, considering there is a bigger rear wing behind which works that flow.

[LM10]

Look how tight the body work is, along with the downward slope to drop the flow to the floor.

https://imgr4.auto-motor-und-sport.de/M ... 431202.jpg

Seems like they’ve gone for a more central packaging. The shark fin appears to be smaller, but there is this RBR-like downward slope now.

[dren]

Why would a team build a car for just a week of test? It's not a livery, it's a lot of parts that cost to build. This is just my opinion, but could this be some upgrade planned for later in the season that they already knew it would give better performance? And when they came in the first test didn't expected that rivals could be in very strong shape.

It was planned this way for the second test. There are more parts to test on a car than just aero.

[Vanja #66]

Thoughts on the cape? Looks like it's sucking in air over the neutral part to feed the diffuser.

https://imgr3.auto-motor-und-sport.de/M ... 431180.jpg

They are enhancing it, for example. It's noticeable, the way they pinched the nose above the cape LE.

[CriXus]

So, if this was the aerodynamic iteration that went into production in early January, then we can expect either a fully refined iteration of the same OR more upgrades by Barcelona.

Or this is the Barcelona update, but rushed out, because of the result of the first test.

[dren]