Mercedes W11

[variante]

Gues that's normal! There should be some "rotor" forming behind in low pressure zone at the trailing edge. Similar to wind blowing over the ridge?

Not exactly. The rotor you're talking about forms behind the Gurney Flap (when the wing has one).

The Mercedes is running a Gurney flap.

It looks like there is strong lateral movement just before the trailing edge out near the endplate. Presumably being driven by the same movement that creates the wing tip vortex.

Yeah, i meant behind the surface of the gurney itself. This is where vortices are expected, not on the surface of the wing. Here's why the flow we're looking at on the Mercedes is not the expected one.

[MtthsMlw]

[pierrre]

there has to be a reason why mercedes-amg has completely reversed their lower wishbone structure to last years car. all teams currently are running normal, if not, individually lower wishbone that share basic structure in having a torque arm angled forward of the rear axle line and have focus towards even further raising their suspension components in light of aero advantages they might gain...mercedes-amg has their way over the other end and then mounted to the rear crash structure...right now the best bet is certainly aerodynamics towards the face of the rear diffuser

i designed a layout based on their rear lower wishbone to try and work out what other tricks are up their sleeves and found some possible advantages they might be using

[Mansell89]

Just how far in front do people think Mercedes are? Everything thus far points to an absolute domination.

Their 2019 car (RP) is being talked about as 4th best (possibly even 3rd depending on Ferrari’s issues) and the 2020 Mercedes will knock the old car into oblivion.

Genuinely think the WDC might be an all Merc battle after 3 races.

[PlatinumZealot]

You know the RP is good. Real good. The Alpha Tauri is also fast. Same for McLaren. My estimates have the Mclaren in front of the RP at this stage then the AT behind. Very tightly packed and within the range of error.

[SiLo]

there has to be a reason why mercedes-amg has completely reversed their lower wishbone structure to last years car. all teams currently are running normal, if not, individually lower wishbone that share basic structure in having a torque arm angled forward of the rear axle line and have focus towards even further raising their suspension components in light of aero advantages they might gain...mercedes-amg has their way over the other end and then mounted to the rear crash structure...right now the best bet is certainly aerodynamics towards the face of the rear diffuser

i designed a layout based on their rear lower wishbone to try and work out what other tricks are up their sleeves and found some possible advantages they might be using

This has already been confirmed as an aero thing for Merc and it’s a on out freeing up a lot more space above the diffuser. Apparently it’s hard to do but they have made it work.


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[F1Krof]

Just how far in front do people think Mercedes are? Everything thus far points to an absolute domination.

Their 2019 car (RP) is being talked about as 4th best (possibly even 3rd depending on Ferrari’s issues) and the 2020 Mercedes will knock the old car into oblivion.

Genuinely think the WDC might be an all Merc battle after 3 races.

Thing is, they might not even be ahead. Ferrari is playing their cards close the chest, their last sector performance suggest they are clearly hiding their potential. Remember last year Merc's performance on last sector was the real speed gainer.

Also the current consensus is that RB16 looks incredible throughout. Trackside observations tell that there look even better than Merc.

[SiLo]

Just how far in front do people think Mercedes are? Everything thus far points to an absolute domination.

Their 2019 car (RP) is being talked about as 4th best (possibly even 3rd depending on Ferrari’s issues) and the 2020 Mercedes will knock the old car into oblivion.

Genuinely think the WDC might be an all Merc battle after 3 races.

Thing is, they might not even be ahead. Ferrari is playing their cards close the chest, their last sector performance suggest they are clearly hiding their potential. Remember last year Merc's performance on last sector was the real speed gainer.

Also the current consensus is that RB16 looks incredible throughout. Trackside observations tell that there look even better than Merc.

Whilst it's nice to entertain this idea, I'm fairly certain Merc are fastest, especially their long run pace.

[zibby43]

Comparison shot of different RW end plates, via Albert Fabrega:

[GPR-A]

Just how far in front do people think Mercedes are? Everything thus far points to an absolute domination.

Their 2019 car (RP) is being talked about as 4th best (possibly even 3rd depending on Ferrari’s issues) and the 2020 Mercedes will knock the old car into oblivion.

Genuinely think the WDC might be an all Merc battle after 3 races.

Thing is, they might not even be ahead. Ferrari is playing their cards close the chest, their last sector performance suggest they are clearly hiding their potential. Remember last year Merc's performance on last sector was the real speed gainer.

Also the current consensus is that RB16 looks incredible throughout. Trackside observations tell that there look even better than Merc.

Whilst it's nice to entertain this idea, I'm fairly certain Merc are fastest, especially their long run pace.

From Autosport article. Premium version though, so just putting numbers out. If you have premium access, then here is the link.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/feature/99 ... ally-cagey

On the C2s, Mercedes appeared to lead the way on Wednesday, where - as ever - fuel and ballast loads are unknown. Over 12 laps, beginning around 11.15am, Hamilton managed an average of 1m19.112s, with impressive consistency.

Red Bull was next up on 1m19.872s over nine laps - which was Alex Albon's run when he returned to the track late in the morning after the team spent three hours fixing a suspension issue - with Ferrari averaging 1m20.293s during Charles Leclerc's best run that started 30 minutes into the afternoon.

Taking the first nine laps of Hamilton's run (which in both calculations has three outlier laps removed), his average comes down to a 1m18.972s.

On the C3s, Mercedes again seemed to be ahead - although it barely touched the yellow-walled rubber all day. On a two-lap average, Valtteri Bottas's short run 35 minutes into the second session resulted in a 1m18.274s.

In the morning, Sebastian Vettel did a similarly short effort that came in at an average of 1m18.432s. Red Bull didn't complete comparable C3 running - Verstappen did a late seven-lap stint at 1m20.048s, but this is considerably longer on the less durable rubber, and a single-lap effort timed at 1m17.347s.

[izzy]

From Autosport article. Premium version though, so just putting numbers out. If you have premium access, then here is the link.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/feature/99 ... ally-cagey

On the C2s, Mercedes appeared to lead the way on Wednesday, where - as ever - fuel and ballast loads are unknown. Over 12 laps, beginning around 11.15am, Hamilton managed an average of 1m19.112s, with impressive consistency.

Red Bull was next up on 1m19.872s over nine laps - which was Alex Albon's run when he returned to the track late in the morning after the team spent three hours fixing a suspension issue - with Ferrari averaging 1m20.293s during Charles Leclerc's best run that started 30 minutes into the afternoon.

Taking the first nine laps of Hamilton's run (which in both calculations has three outlier laps removed), his average comes down to a 1m18.972s.

On the C3s, Mercedes again seemed to be ahead - although it barely touched the yellow-walled rubber all day. On a two-lap average, Valtteri Bottas's short run 35 minutes into the second session resulted in a 1m18.274s.

In the morning, Sebastian Vettel did a similarly short effort that came in at an average of 1m18.432s. Red Bull didn't complete comparable C3 running - Verstappen did a late seven-lap stint at 1m20.048s, but this is considerably longer on the less durable rubber, and a single-lap effort timed at 1m17.347s.

thanks, so in actual data it's all more or less within 10kg of fuel! Allowing for wind and different drivers. And all the front wings have converged to the same outwash-icity, so for all the hype about Mercedes it's still all there to be fought for, by the look of that

i can't believe F1 timing still doesn't do stints

[mantaque]

Valtteri Bottas' steering wheel - look from the mounting side (per motorsport.com):

[mkay]

Just how far in front do people think Mercedes are? Everything thus far points to an absolute domination.

Their 2019 car (RP) is being talked about as 4th best (possibly even 3rd depending on Ferrari’s issues) and the 2020 Mercedes will knock the old car into oblivion.

Genuinely think the WDC might be an all Merc battle after 3 races.

Thing is, they might not even be ahead. Ferrari is playing their cards close the chest, their last sector performance suggest they are clearly hiding their potential. Remember last year Merc's performance on last sector was the real speed gainer.

Also the current consensus is that RB16 looks incredible throughout. Trackside observations tell that there look even better than Merc.

It was proven yesterday that the Ferrari driver had cut corners to achieve the 26.0 S3 time as he missed two timing loops within the sector.

Re: RB, consensus from where? British media trying to drum up interest in a potentially dull season? Given how wrong Ben and Gary Anderson have been in the past I would heavily discount their opinion.

[Maplesoup]

Re: RB, consensus from where? British media trying to drum up interest in a potentially dull season? Given how wrong Ben and Gary Anderson have been in the past I would heavily discount their opinion.

To be fair quite a few people on this forum who have gone over to watch the testing have said the same thing about the handling of the red bull.

[214270]

Re: RB, consensus from where? British media trying to drum up interest in a potentially dull season? Given how wrong Ben and Gary Anderson have been in the past I would heavily discount their opinion.

To be fair quite a few people on this forum who have gone over to watch the testing have said the same thing about the handling of the red bull.

Chandhok was on duty today trackside and did a stint in the booth and said the Merc was by far and away the best looking out on track.

Interestingly, yesterday they had George Russell out on track and he flatly denied you could determine anything from trackside observations.