Mercedes F1 chief technical officer James Allison is confident that his technical team has found the root cause of the German-Anglo squad’s recent gearbox failures and can make the necessary changes to avoid its reappearance.
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.
This thread is wandering way off topic again. Discussing performance differences between cars should be done on team threads etc rather than car specific thread
i understand that this is a short, right-handed circuit, but what gives with the right-side ridge on the nose? clearly it's taking advantage of the tight, right-handed nature of the ring, but to what effect? i thought airflow would be biased towards the left-side of the nose (view from cockpit), so what gives?
EDIT:
it's weird, but i proposed that merc was using the original 2017 (and 2016) nose to produce a low-pressure zone under the nose, and it seems they took this to the next level with that fat extension underneath. i know they've had it for a few races now, but my original thought was using the low-pressure to further decrease the air pressure under the floor. i don't think it's just to produce a diffuser effect on the nose, but that AND additional downforce from the longer floor. any reductions in air pressure at the nose will be passed through to the central portion of the floor due to the T-tray. even if it's a small percentage gain, every millimeter/microsecond counts.
it seems this might be the right interpretation of what they're doing, because they seem to be paying attention to how they channel that air. that notch in the "nose diffuser" certainly looks like it's intended to produce a vortex. they expand down the line, to they might be trying to seal off that vacuum underneath the nose, to the T-tray, much in the way they and other teams are sealing off the edges of the floors. this can increase the effectiveness of the Y250 vortex, by sealing off the floor, with a vortex rotating in the opposite direction. they might be strengthening the Y250, actually, but i'm spitballing completely.
i'd love to hear some counters to this idea, because it makes too much sense to me, based on the configuration of this "nose diffuser" versus the mandated Y250. looking at the driver from the front, the left side of the nose diffuser should want to spin the counter-clockwise, but the Y250 should spin clockwise. given the nice video from webber's rb9, i believe the nose diffuser is going to amplify the Y250 vortex, which should multiply its effects downstream, with the longer floor. am i crazy here? i'm totally using eyeball cfd, so i'm welcome to criticism. it's more of a mental exercise, so counter arguments only help my understanding.
Some detailed shots Scarbs has posted on Drivetribe.com + the description
New in Austria was this little slot in the tail of the 'cape', it makes the vortex effect even stronger.
A single brake fluid reservoir sits inside the nose
With diffusers even larger and more powerful this year, the outer flap detailing is becoming ever more complex to accelerate more under the floor for more downforce
"A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool."~William Shakespeare
