Mercedes AMG F1 W04

[beelsebob]

Have spoken to Lotus and Merc who say FIA splitter story is just that - a story! Both teams passed tests and no changes to make.

https://twitter.com/JennieGow

Yeah ofc they passed the tests cause they did race and didnt get DSQ, but that doesnt mean they wont change it, remeber Mclaren last year or was it the year before ? They had a splitter that bent but was never DSQ eventho they raced it twice.

Actually, that was nothing to do with a bendy splitter, it was to do with a shaped underside to the floor. The rules allowed for "manufacturing tollerances" of a few mils on the floor being flat. McLaren exploited that to add some shaping, the FIA said "nice try, but next time we're not going to believe this identical shaping on both cars is an 'error'".

[Ferraripilot]

+1 to the prior poster mentioning the rear wing as an obvious area to appear to need development, but appearances can of course be deceiving so who knows. In comparing W04s rear wing to say Ferrari or Mclaren it does indeed look rather pedestrian though.

China's updates from not only MB but everyone should be a further indication of what the tires are calling teams to do and if Dr. Marko has any validity whatsoever to his claims that these tires require less downforce (sounds asinine doesn't it?). If we see upgrades from teams that we know add downforce, and those cars win or perform well than I believe we can safely write-off Marko's assessment of the tires.

[ForMuLaOne]

Well i still wonder why they do not use slotted gurneys in areas like the beamwing or the diffusor. They also do not use the endplate fins which are directed outwards to help the diffusor. Another area of development could be the bargeboard, lotus shows an interesting option in this area. Also the direction fins in front of the rear wheels look pretty much like prototypes. They dropped them though and reinstalled them in malaysia. I think Mercede`s is good for the most obvious upgrades as this car still looks pretty simple ( not as detailed as others, it is very neat in another way). But i cannot imagine that ferrari for example will bring some fundamental addons, as they run with tuned bits and pieces already (just look at the rearwing, as mentioned by other posters).

[elf341]

This car I think is a real indication to us armchair aerodynamicists that we shouldn't take ourselves so seriously!

Bar the FW moving from 3 to 5 slots, a change in sidepod shape, and that cool tri-wing vortex generator by the mirrors -- this car seems so similar to the W03 in appearance. No obvious change in diffuser, rear wing; and the coanda looks visually (without measuring) very similar to the W03 spec. And yet this car seems to have gained 2 seconds? Astounding.

[diego.liv]

http://www.blogf1.it/2013/04/03/nessuna ... -red-bull/

No changes needed for Merc, Lotus and RBR T-tray

[Mika1]

This car I think is a real indication to us armchair aerodynamicists that we shouldn't take ourselves so seriously!

Bar the FW moving from 3 to 5 slots, a change in sidepod shape, and that cool tri-wing vortex generator by the mirrors -- this car seems so similar to the W03 in appearance. No obvious change in diffuser, rear wing; and the coanda looks visually (without measuring) very similar to the W03 spec. And yet this car seems to have gained 2 seconds? Astounding.

Under the skin developments.

[Ferraripilot]

Under the skin developments.

+1 I believe a major benefit W04 is seeing is the rumored simplification of the 'Fric' system which Aldo Costa is rumored to be responsible for. The visible aero aids and clearly more effected EBD on W04 certainly contribute as well. I suspect winter at MB was one of studying and developing more efficient fuel maps as Ross stated W03s EBD required more fuel than their prior exhaust arrangement. And I as understand it, Mclaren became more efficient with their fuel efficiency with EBD as the season progressed. Hopefully MB has caught on to their tricks.

[dren]

This car I think is a real indication to us armchair aerodynamicists that we shouldn't take ourselves so seriously!

Bar the FW moving from 3 to 5 slots, a change in sidepod shape, and that cool tri-wing vortex generator by the mirrors -- this car seems so similar to the W03 in appearance. No obvious change in diffuser, rear wing; and the coanda looks visually (without measuring) very similar to the W03 spec. And yet this car seems to have gained 2 seconds? Astounding.

Under the skin developments.

Yes, improved cooling and internal flow. The sidepods and rear designed around the exhaust helped plenty I would guess.

[ringo]

I agree that this car is very different. More than 90% different.

However its speed is very fickle. So i'm not getting too comfortable.

[Darknight]

A question that has been on my mind since the start of the season is why the W04 lost so much top speed as compared to the W03? Is it a change in aero philosophy? Lack of DDRS? Figureing out the Redbull secret (Redbull are generally slower in top speed than most)? or is it something else entirely?

Views anyone?

[JMN]

I'd say shorter gearing. Shorter gearing would not only help you reach terminal speed faster, it would also have advantages when cornering - Brundle keeps mentioning how the drivers are very aggressive on the downshifts when cornering to maximize the airflow through the engine to maintain the skirts around the side of the diffuser for as long as possible.

To be fair the term "when cornering" isn't particularly illustrative. In terms of battling understeer on corner entry the above conjecture doesn't make all that much sense, but mid-corner and on up-shifts it seems plausible.

[user001]

Brawn was quoted that one major problem with W03, regarding tyre wear as well as overall downforce so forth, was the sidepod design, which they got right this time.

furthermore i do not know whether proper sidepod design is also responsible for the correct sealing of of the diffuser, as it is mostly achieved by the exhaust position i guess.

[elf341]

Brawn was quoted that one major problem with W03, regarding tyre wear as well as overall downforce so forth, was the sidepod design,

I've not heard this quote before, do you happen to have a link to the story? I can't find anything on google.
I assume you're talking about the final W03 side-pod configuration version the W04 - both sporting Coanda-style exhausts.

[ajdavison2]

I've seen one of those by Nico before aswell

[MercedesAMG]

According to Auto-Motor-Sport Mercedes will bring so new "aerodynamic components to add more downforce".