Mercedes AMG F1 W03

[Ferraripilot]

Probably in China, the top teams will have developed the new FDuck.

It would take a miracle. I'd be amazed if anyone copied it by the first race in Europe. The system is a terrible amount of work and I'm sure the venturi effects must be understood before they are implemented.

For this reason, our disadvantage about the other teams will increase. I insist that the situation of Mercedes AMG F1 is very critical now. They have a problem they do not know what exactly it is and the fact of to have run under non-representative conditions (Melbourne & rain) implies that all data collected will be unrepresentative.
For me the problem is not the degradation. The problem is that when the car is loaded, it just does not work (On Friday I put some charts which revealed precisely this)
Obviously, I do not know how to fix an issue that sank an entire team (Ferrari, last year), but the problem looks bad. I do not believe in Mercedes, these two years have shown me that they are not prepared for the fight of the development.
Sorry, but I can not be optimistic. It's impossible!

While the data is not completely unrepresentative, it is certainly not as useful as they would prefer it. But you're right it's not a proper degredation problem, it's a useage problem in that the tires are just not being used correctly to manufactur specific heat ranges. This is not a huge issue though, definitely not. Nascar teams can even fix an issue like this so what on earth would keep the might of the staff with Mercedes GP not being able to.

[Dragonfly]

Probably in China, the top teams will have developed the new FDuck.

It would take a miracle. I'd be amazed if anyone copied it by the first race in Europe. The system is a terrible amount of work and I'm sure the venturi effects must be understood before they are implemented.

And after they are understood and implemented in a design, they need to produce new tubs or heavily modify the existing ones which would be a compromise with an unpredictable end result.

[1158]

Its normal to see them fiddling with brake bias a lot. Between launch and the first corner? a bit odd but I would think not too unusual. you would normally adjust that while you're waiting for the rest of the grid to assemble which can be quite a long time if you're sitting in P3.

Stalling the front wing will definitely give you a straight line advantage, albeit a smaller one than if you were to do it with the rear wing.

Could it be that the last time he was in the car the track was dry? With a wet track he wanted different bias for the first corner.

Or a combination of slower start/entry speed as was previously suggested and the wet conditions?

There's no reason why he couldn't have done that at any point during the lap to the start or in the grid box. It was weird that he only decided to mess about with the brake balance at the most hectic of times possible.

Good point. The more I think about it the weirder it seems to me. However I can't see Schu doing something without a reason. Could it be he realized he was going to have to take a different line given his relatively poor start?

I wonder how much just how much adjustment the drivers are able to make to the bias. Is that something that is regulated (amount of adjustment) by the FIA? I've never seen/heard/read anything about it.

[Mashed]

I think this is quite interesting, but at the same time quite a funny thing to happen....

Nico Rosberg baffled by tyre problems in the Malaysian Grand Prix
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98407

"I was P4 after the red flag and pitstop, and from then on I thought I could do something good this time. But then I started going backwards - and big time.

"[With] the first inters I had to come into the pits because I thought my rear tyre was game over completely. So I come into the pits, put a new set of inters on and the pit crew said to me that my inters were brand new still, so I thought, what is going on? They felt completely destroyed. It was strange.

I know it was mentioned here before
So now we can safely say that its not tyre degradation, The car is under working the tyres
Like ferrari 2011

Shouldnt they then have problems during QF's?

If they cant get their tires work over long distance...how can they do it over 1,2 and 3 laps stint?

So imagine how much faster times they could do in qualy if they switch it on
Or it could be the fuel weight which is not allowing them switch it on

One would think that the extra weight of a full tank would help bring/keep the tires up to temp far better than when the car is light on fuel. So I find it hard to understand how a lighter car in qualifying can switch the tires on but with a full tank of fuel struggle to get the tires hot enough to switch on. Its a real head scratcher I think.

Hopefully they get it sorted for the next race.

[siskue2005]

One would think that the extra weight of a full tank would help bring/keep the tires up to temp far better than when the car is light on fuel. So I find it hard to understand how a lighter car in qualifying can switch the tires on but with a full tank of fuel struggle to get the tires hot enough to switch on. Its a real head scratcher I think.

Hopefully they get it sorted for the next race.

and you base that on what?

[Huntresa]

One would think that the extra weight of a full tank would help bring/keep the tires up to temp far better than when the car is light on fuel. So I find it hard to understand how a lighter car in qualifying can switch the tires on but with a full tank of fuel struggle to get the tires hot enough to switch on. Its a real head scratcher I think.

Hopefully they get it sorted for the next race.

and you base that on what?

You do realize you go slower thru corners etc on heavy fuel loads? Meaning less speed which means less momentum which means harder to keep tyres warm or even get up to temp.

[Mashed]

One would think that the extra weight of a full tank would help bring/keep the tires up to temp far better than when the car is light on fuel. So I find it hard to understand how a lighter car in qualifying can switch the tires on but with a full tank of fuel struggle to get the tires hot enough to switch on. Its a real head scratcher I think.

Hopefully they get it sorted for the next race.

and you base that on what?

Just basing it on logic. My thinking goes like this. More weight in the car requires more energy to drive the car around the track, which results in more demand from the tire which then creates more heat. Of course I could be wrong so please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Owen.C93]

One would think that the extra weight of a full tank would help bring/keep the tires up to temp far better than when the car is light on fuel. So I find it hard to understand how a lighter car in qualifying can switch the tires on but with a full tank of fuel struggle to get the tires hot enough to switch on. Its a real head scratcher I think.

Hopefully they get it sorted for the next race.

and you base that on what?

You do realize you go slower thru corners etc on heavy fuel loads? Meaning less speed which means less momentum which means harder to keep tyres warm or even get up to temp.

You go slower in the corners on high fuel because there's more force acting on the tyres and they give up at a slower speed than normal. So that argument doesn't make much sense.

[marcush.]

you have a lot more to play :
How much temp how you ramp up the temps ,perhaps how many cycles and of course how much pressure you start with all this will have an influence on tyre perfromance ,peak and degradation .
They have had no real chance to evaluate the Intermediates if i´m correct so it may well be a case of just beeing too far off with the pressure

[Mestrades]

Probably in China, the top teams will have developed the new FDuck. For this reason, our disadvantage about the other teams will increase. I insist that the situation of Mercedes AMG F1 is very critical now. They have a problem they do not know what exactly it is and the fact of to have run under non-representative conditions (Melbourne & rain) implies that all data collected will be unrepresentative.
For me the problem is not the degradation. The problem is that when the car is loaded, it just does not work (On Friday I put some charts which revealed precisely this)
Obviously, I do not know how to fix an issue that sank an entire team (Ferrari, last year), but the problem looks bad. I do not believe in Mercedes, these two years have shown me that they are not prepared for the fight of the development.
Sorry, but I can not be optimistic. It's impossible!

Umm... How about from now on you stop talking complete crap and back up everything you say with facts. They started the season ~1s down (if not more) and ended it ~1s down.

Seriously...

Facts? You saw the Formula 1 season last year? Our great and powerful development left the team behind Force India and Toro Roso. There was never able to approach the third best team (Ferrari). Remember what you are going to read now: "Zero wins, zero podiums, better position of the year: 5th place, final classification of the constructors' championship: 6th"
This is the sad reality of Mercedes

[blokkie]

I don't think the team and development rate was the source of the problem last year.. but more the short-wheel-base design did not alow much of development in the areas that could improve performance.

This year though , the chassis has a much longer wheelbase so at least there is _room_ for changes.

I also don't think it's fair to compare last year's car with this year.

Just my 0,5 cent

[kris]

Last year at this stage most of the people (experts and forums alike) had written the car and season off for good, pointing out basic flaws in design. The points raised where SWB, Over heating issues, tire issues, rear wing flow attach issues etc.

Experts/forums point that the W03 is in a better shape than last year (atleast from a stand alone perspective). This year the issue reported is that of tire usage (for now).

Are other cars like ferrari/sabuer/lotus really faster or is their performance a flash in the pan remains to be seen.

The season depends on how quickly the remaining issue/s are addressed. The more time they spend on the tier issue the more others move ahead in terms of development and worse the season gets.

[spadeflush]

Facts? You saw the Formula 1 season last year? Our great and powerful development left the team behind Force India and Toro Roso. There was never able to approach the third best team (Ferrari). Remember what you are going to read now: "Zero wins, zero podiums, better position of the year: 5th place, final classification of the constructors' championship: 6th"
This is the sad reality of Mercedes

By the time Force India and Toro Rosso were challenging Mercedes for race positions, the team had already focused all its resources on the W03. There's no logic in saying they are unable to develop a car.

[siskue2005]

Probably in China, the top teams will have developed the new FDuck. For this reason, our disadvantage about the other teams will increase. I insist that the situation of Mercedes AMG F1 is very critical now. They have a problem they do not know what exactly it is and the fact of to have run under non-representative conditions (Melbourne & rain) implies that all data collected will be unrepresentative.
For me the problem is not the degradation. The problem is that when the car is loaded, it just does not work (On Friday I put some charts which revealed precisely this)
Obviously, I do not know how to fix an issue that sank an entire team (Ferrari, last year), but the problem looks bad. I do not believe in Mercedes, these two years have shown me that they are not prepared for the fight of the development
Sorry, but I can not be optimistic. It's impossible!

this is F1technical forums not f1whining forums
maybe you are better suited to autosport forums
discuss about the technical aspect of the car , dont just whine here like a little girl!

[ImAnEngineer]

Facts? You saw the Formula 1 season last year? Our great and powerful development left the team behind Force India and Toro Roso. There was never able to approach the third best team (Ferrari). Remember what you are going to read now: "Zero wins, zero podiums, better position of the year: 5th place, final classification of the constructors' championship: 6th"
This is the sad reality of Mercedes

LOL they stopped developing the W02 at the end of July after 4th place was secured (there was no chance of catching Ferrari by that point). Torro Rosso, Force India and Sauber had to keep developing as they had a very close fight on their hands for 6th place, so naturally they all gained on a car that wasnt being improved any more.