Mercedes W15

[AR3-GP]

There were a few good shots of the changing floor pitch and height as the car goes into the bus stop chicane at Spa. There are multiple stages:

1) Max compression (heave) at top speed before the bus stop.
2) Brake dive (sparks from the front of the plank)
3) Nose up when the brakes are released.

[Farnborough]

There is, visible over curbing into last chicane turning right, huge rotational/torsional front wing flex (top rearmost plane rotating downward) very evident in slo~mo replay of that corner.

That may be of benefit to straight-line max velocity, but could offer serious compromise in front end bite through S2 in this track.

[atanatizante]

https://i.postimg.cc/jjwgvyPS/Merc-Bus- ... ualy-3.gif

There were a few good shots of the changing floor pitch and height as the car goes into the bus stop chicane at Spa. There are multiple stages:

1) Max compression (heave) at top speed before the bus stop.
2) Brake dive (sparks from the front of the plank)
3) Nose up when the brakes are released.

To me it seems that the car suspension was set up very soft at least at the front to have such a big dive and presumably this was done due to wet track conditions that needed a higher ride and a softer suspension.

Besides that there are rumors saying that their suspension didn't cope in the high-speed corners with the increase load generated by the new floor and diffuser and at a certain speed and threshold load the car is porpoising porpoising...
The reason for that issue is the endless miscorrelation between the CFD+WT and the real track results due to the 60% scale model they use but mainly due to the inability to simulate lateral loads when the car is in a yaw situation...

So they need to roll back these upgrades and go to the same route like Ferrari did throughout a modified floor and suspension to cope with these peak loads.

Finally, what's interesting to know, is how come MCL38 is the single car this year that their upgrades were working flowlessly ...

[AR3-GP]

Spa 2024 FP1

[f1isgood]

https://i.postimg.cc/jjwgvyPS/Merc-Bus- ... ualy-3.gif

There were a few good shots of the changing floor pitch and height as the car goes into the bus stop chicane at Spa. There are multiple stages:

1) Max compression (heave) at top speed before the bus stop.
2) Brake dive (sparks from the front of the plank)
3) Nose up when the brakes are released.

To me it seems that the car suspension was set up very soft at least at the front to have such a big dive and presumably this was done due to wet track conditions that needed a higher ride and a softer suspension.

Besides that there are rumors saying that their suspension didn't cope in the high-speed corners with the increase load generated by the new floor and diffuser and at a certain speed and threshold load the car is porpoising porpoising...
The reason for that issue is the endless miscorrelation between the CFD+WT and the real track results due to the 60% scale model they use but mainly due to the inability to simulate lateral loads when the car is in a yaw situation...

So they need to roll back these upgrades and go to the same route like Ferrari did throughout a modified floor and suspension to cope with these peak loads.

Finally, what's interesting to know, is how come MCL38 is the single car this year that their upgrades were working flowlessly ...

Slightly off-topic as this is a thread about W15:

It could simply be because how McLaren developed their car. They were really good at high speed last year (as good as Red Bull towards the season end) and early this year and lost that advantage to basically have a better compromise overall. In medium and slow speed and medium-high speed they are very good but in actual high speed that car lacks quite a bit compared to RB20 which is still the class of the field for very high speed corners. In fact Pouhan was flat on a green track for Verstappen. This was also similar to the SF24 in some respect -- except they are not as good but better than RB20 in medium-high.

To me, McLaren's compromise seems to be the right approach in hindsight given their car's on-track performance probably because maybe in order to achieve RB's high speed, you need a stiff suspension like the one that RB have but that basically means you are screwed while riding curbs and in the slow speed stuff. Also, it could simply be the right development path only in hindsight -- sometimes what order or upgrades and what you put on the car also happen because of how you started out. Everyone plays a guessing game and no one(including McL themselves) could have really predicted that they'd become so good with the compromise they took!

[AR3-GP]

Tufts on the halo from Spa FP2. Old fashioned yet simple.

[atanatizante]

Source: https://x.com/GiulyDuchessa/status/1817151672977662189

[Luscion]

Turns out the issue wasnt the upgrades, it was a mechanical issue they found and fixed. Upgrades will be on the car in Zandvoort

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1052865/1 ... belgian-gp (bottom of the article)

[atanatizante]

Turns out the issue wasnt the upgrades, it was a mechanical issue they found and fixed. Upgrades will be on the car in Zandvoort

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1052865/1 ... belgian-gp (bottom of the article)

Yeah, Toto confirmed that at Sky after the race ... it seems that it was a mechanical issue and their chief engineer had spotted it afterward. Then after the Friday night and Saturday morning hours at the sim they were keen to try the new changes but unfortunately, we had a wet FP3 and they thought it would be wiser to revert to the old spec car, a known quantity ...

[nico5]

Well, at least we now definitively know Merc can build a car under the weight limit

[rifrafs2kees]

Well, at least we now definitively know Merc can build a car under the weight limit

I see what you did there, you dog

[SICK AL SPEEDSHOP]

Spa 2024 FP1
https://i.postimg.cc/59QY5VpJ/Mercedes-Spa-2024-FP1.gif

very hard wobbling on the front wing of the W15 in comparison to the SF-24, MCL38 and AMR24. do you have a gif of the RB20 fw in the same corner maybe too?

[digitalrurouni]

I'd be curious what the mechanical setup issue was for the Mercedes. I mean it seems to have unlocked a whole heap of pace from their car.

[cplchanb]

I'd be curious what the mechanical setup issue was for the Mercedes. I mean it seems to have unlocked a whole heap of pace from their car.

i guess you can ask mr bulge whos residing over the front nose of their car lol

[ispano6]

Spa 2024 FP1
https://i.postimg.cc/59QY5VpJ/Mercedes-Spa-2024-FP1.gif

Very good sequence depicting the gap between the first and second element shrinking and expanding, and how bringing in the scrubbing plates toward the nose to use the first element as a springboard to absorb the impact of the suspension CAN act as a mass damper. It's not so obvious since Russell isn't going directly over the curb but the nose and monocoque don't appear to be phased at all.