Mercedes AMG F1 W06

[roadie]

I don't remember seeing slots in the footplate of the FWEP like this before.

[turbof1]

I don't remember seeing slots in the footplate of the FWEP like this before.

http://img3.auto-motor-und-sport.de/GP- ... 853054.jpg

Nothing new, they had this ever since Spain last year.

http://www.f1technical.net/features/19448, check paragraph "round 2: Spain"

[Kiril Varbanov]

https://twitter.com/f1elvis/status/581445454056951809

[De Jokke]

To stay positive despite the horrifying strategy, at least we've finished with two cars in a very difficult race for man and machine.
Also: 4 out of 4 car finishes. So well done merc.
Now get that tyre deg in hot temps up to scratch and start dominating again

[turbof1]

https://twitter.com/f1elvis/status/581445454056951809

It's interesting they had to apply this. I can't remember Mercedes using this last year, when downforce levels were significantly reduced.

This year downforce levels have risen, putting a lot more energy in the tyres again. A hot venue like Malaysia would bring the tyres to the edge dispite the dimples in the rim. We saw that when the track cooled off a bit during the race, Mercedes found a bit more pace.

[DaveW]

A quote from Craig Scarborough in Autosport (with apologies to Craig), discussing the W06 front suspension:

Above the rack there is hydraulic manifold, with fluid lines and dry-break connectors, which is for the front suspension.
 Many of the parts associated with this are similar to the FRIC (Front Rear Inter Connected) system run up until the German GP last year.
 However, the hydraulic system is only applied to the front suspension and not linked to the rear, and is therefore still legal.
 Mercedes runs both a coil spring and a hydraulic spring for heave control of the front suspension, with the weight of the car taken by the mechanical spring and the tuning achieved with the hydraulic element.
 Access to pressurise and tune the hydraulic suspension system is via the front-mounted manifold

I am not sure I agree with all of that, e.g. steel springs vs hydraulics.

Any thoughts...


[Dreameagl]

https://twitter.com/f1elvis/status/581445454056951809

It's interesting they had to apply this. I can't remember Mercedes using this last year, when downforce levels were significantly reduced.

This year downforce levels have risen, putting a lot more energy in the tyres again. A hot venue like Malaysia would bring the tyres to the edge dispite the dimples in the rim. We saw that when the track cooled off a bit during the race, Mercedes found a bit more pace.

I always thought it was the opposite function, to absorb heat from the brakes. Since the dimples are black, they would absorb heat more readily than dissipate it (emissivity). Also, I thought some of the hot air from the break enclosure is directed to the inside of the wheel (where the dimples are) via the cutouts in the break enclosures.

[AlainProst]

http://img3.auto-motor-und-sport.de/GP- ... 853054.jpg

Mercedes has introduced small fin one the maine plane on the front wing in orde to avoid tire debris stuck in the slots of the wing as Red Bull in 2012 or 2013 I heard. But I don't know how does this sytem work so can you explain me if you know ?

[scarbs]

A quote from Craig Scarborough in Autosport (with apologies to Craig), discussing the W06 front suspension:

Above the rack there is hydraulic manifold, with fluid lines and dry-break connectors, which is for the front suspension.
 Many of the parts associated with this are similar to the FRIC (Front Rear Inter Connected) system run up until the German GP last year.
 However, the hydraulic system is only applied to the front suspension and not linked to the rear, and is therefore still legal.
 Mercedes runs both a coil spring and a hydraulic spring for heave control of the front suspension, with the weight of the car taken by the mechanical spring and the tuning achieved with the hydraulic element.
 Access to pressurise and tune the hydraulic suspension system is via the front-mounted manifold

I am not sure I agree with all of that, e.g. steel springs vs hydraulics.

Any thoughts...


There's definitely two heave springs a coil and a hydraulic one.

[miguelalvesreis]

A quote from Craig Scarborough in Autosport (with apologies to Craig), discussing the W06 front suspension:

Above the rack there is hydraulic manifold, with fluid lines and dry-break connectors, which is for the front suspension.
 Many of the parts associated with this are similar to the FRIC (Front Rear Inter Connected) system run up until the German GP last year.
 However, the hydraulic system is only applied to the front suspension and not linked to the rear, and is therefore still legal.
 Mercedes runs both a coil spring and a hydraulic spring for heave control of the front suspension, with the weight of the car taken by the mechanical spring and the tuning achieved with the hydraulic element.
 Access to pressurise and tune the hydraulic suspension system is via the front-mounted manifold

I am not sure I agree with all of that, e.g. steel springs vs hydraulics.

Any thoughts...


There's definitely two heave springs a coil and a hydraulic one.

How is it working? One for the pre-charge and the other for the dynamic load? Or is there a mechanical set-up on the coil spring and the Hydraulics fine tune the spring rate?

[PlatinumZealot]

http://img3.auto-motor-und-sport.de/GP- ... 853054.jpg

Mercedes has introduced small fin one the maine plane on the front wing in orde to avoid tire debris stuck in the slots of the wing as Red Bull in 2012 or 2013 I heard. But I don't know how does this sytem work so can you explain me if you know ?

Erm. hmm. are you talking about those small vertical fins? The measure to avoid rubber sticking is not the fins but a special ant-stick coating used by some teams. With regards to the fins though, I think the fins were first introduced for purely aerodynamic purposes in 2012? or 2013? If I remember. Mercedes did it first then Red Bull.

[wesley123]

afaik Red Bull did it first, because Red bull were dominating it was quickly copied over by a few teams, but after that it was tweaked and appeared in a less aggressive way.

It's function is mainly aero(as on the Merc here), although it also has been used to prevent rubber clogging up the slots.

[PlatinumZealot]

How would fins do that though? Naturally one would think the fins give the rubber more corners and crevices to stick onto...?

[ringo]

To stay positive despite the horrifying strategy, at least we've finished with two cars in a very difficult race for man and machine.
Also: 4 out of 4 car finishes. So well done merc.
Now get that tyre deg in hot temps up to scratch and start dominating again

That problem has been with them from shumacher days, and it never left. Last year they also had the issue but it was less noticable because of the power advantage they had, but Williams came close to them a few times because their FW car had treated the tyres better.
I don't think Merc will be able to solve this problem for a while. It's in their DNA.

[DaveW]

There's definitely two heave springs a coil and a hydraulic one.

Accepted, probably some dampers too.

The (front) suspension of an F1 vehicle is required to control ride height and absorb and dissipate disturbance energy.

Before FRIC, ride height was controlled by spring pre-load and spring rate (not helped by tyres and installation compliance), and the ability to absorb and dissipate energy was provided mainly by the springs and dampers (with a small amount of help from tyres and friction). The whole thing was a huge compromise, because the aerodynamicists required accurate ride height control to the detriment of mechanical control (the ability to absorb and dissipate energy).

In contrast, Citroen's hydro-pneumatic system uses air trapped in accumulators to serve as (rising rate) springs, flow between the accumulators and actuators was metered to provide damping, and a ride height was controlled using a high pressure hydraulic supply. Not relevant to F1? It was the basis for the Williams GP active system of the late 1980's, see US4861066 by Frank Dernie.

FRIC moved the conventional F1 front suspension a small way towards the Citroen system by providing a variable pre-load, essentially by trading rear ride height with front using hydraulic links. Arguably, this had the attraction of maintaining front ride height with airspeed, whilst allowing front spring stiffness to be reduced and hence improving mechanical control. It provided the secondary benefit of being able to set the overall ride height statically by adjusting the volume of fluid in the hydraulic link.

Now that FRIC is banned (yet another pointless regulation designed, seemingly, to increase costs) the point of retaining a hydraulic element might be to vary static preload (though I guess much effort would be devoted to try and retain the variable ride height capability).

I would argue that the hydraulic element of the W06 currently controls ride height, and the springs and dampers are "tuned" to provide mechanical control. Historically, some teams do that better than others.