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.
Will Mercedes bring an ultra-low downforce wing for Monza, or just re-use the Spa package?
The specification they raced at Spa is the lowest-downforce spec that we've seen them use the entire season.
In Baku, Mercedes tested (cannot remember if they raced it) a front wing that had the uppermost chords trimmed out (similar to what Ferrari utilized at Spa) and the inboard tips re-profiled slightly. I don't know if Merc utilized that FW in Spa. We didn't get a ton of technical photos of the W10 during the past weekend.
Will Mercedes bring an ultra-low downforce wing for Monza, or just re-use the Spa package?
The specification they raced at Spa is the lowest-downforce spec that we've seen them use the entire season.
In Baku, Mercedes tested (cannot remember if they raced it) a front wing that had the uppermost chords trimmed out (similar to what Ferrari utilized at Spa) and the inboard tips re-profiled slightly. I don't know if Merc utilized that FW in Spa. We didn't get a ton of technical photos of the W10 during the past weekend.
I was well aware that it was the lowest-downforce spec, just wondering if people think Mercedes will do further thinkering to shed some drag (T-wing, front/rear wing, etc.) given Monza doesn't really have the mix of corners Spa does.
So can someone explain to me how if a car is very draggy a la Mercedes and is producing a ton of downforce can't be tweaked to produce a very slippery car with less downforce? Almost seems like Mercedes doesn't know how to make slippery cars because they've spent so much time making a draggy downforcey car.
So can someone explain to me how if a car is very draggy a la Mercedes and is producing a ton of downforce can't be tweaked to produce a very slippery car with less downforce? Almost seems like Mercedes doesn't know how to make slippery cars because they've spent so much time making a draggy downforcey car.
It's not that simple, when you go with a given design philosophy you can't make drastic changes to it without messing up with the car's aerodynamic balance.
Will Mercedes bring an ultra-low downforce wing for Monza, or just re-use the Spa package?
The specification they raced at Spa is the lowest-downforce spec that we've seen them use the entire season.
In Baku, Mercedes tested (cannot remember if they raced it) a front wing that had the uppermost chords trimmed out (similar to what Ferrari utilized at Spa) and the inboard tips re-profiled slightly. I don't know if Merc utilized that FW in Spa. We didn't get a ton of technical photos of the W10 during the past weekend.
I was well aware that it was the lowest-downforce spec, just wondering if people think Mercedes will do further thinkering to shed some drag (T-wing, front/rear wing, etc.) given Monza doesn't really have the mix of corners Spa does.
My point in emphasizing the entire season was establishing that, with Mercedes, we usually see them test lower-downforce options before racing them. And your initial question only referenced the rear wing, which I addressed (and more).
If you haven't seen a lower-downforce spec yet this season, you're likely not going to see it at Monza.
I already addressed the front wing part of your question.
In the post-race press conference, Lewis said, I quote: ..."I think we’ve got some improvements to try to make to the car within four days ..." so they have something special for this race, presumably aero I think ...
Then, Toto said the 2 PU failures forced to run them in the race in a conservative mode, without the highest race PU mappings ... that`s the second statement on this matter and could be one reason behind that 15km/h deficit to Ferrari on the straights at Spa ...
To me that Merc has other philosophy than Ferrari when they introduce a new spec: they - both customers and works team - just run them in a lower PU mode (or better say not in the highest PU modes) in order to have some real track data but most of all to calibrate them fully at the next race, which by the way is Monza ... Ferrari is even more conservative on this matter and just lets the customer's teams be their "guinea pig tests" and do this pre-phase of new spec PU introduction ...
It seems that Merc has just arrived at a dead-end regarding their PU "architecture" philosophy and must focus in the future to those areas which Ferrari has outperformed them: combustion and MGU-H ...
On another note, how much time the PU manufacturers do they take in R&D + dyno tests prior they run a new PU spec? I`ve read somewhere they need at least 6 months in advance ... so for this 3rd spec. 2019 PU they were starting way back at the beginning of the springtime ... and they are now working for the first 2020 PU spec. it seems ...
These pu units have a thermal efficiency of 50% they is another 50 to go hardly a dead end.maybe Mercedes are finding it hard to find extra power without dodgy oil burning what's funny was Ferrari was supposed to be the cheating one with smoke bellowing out of the exhaust when ever they leave the pit and extra sensors they were carrying.
