Mercedes AMG F1 W03

[allstaruk08]

didnt sound too good at 1 minute 40 seconds

[Gridlock]

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/02/b ... trackside/


"Meanwhile the Mercedes appears at first sight to be a good car with some interesting solutions in the diffuser, the exhausts and other areas, but it does not contain the silver bullet that some were expecting. It is a step forward for the Silver Arrows and should certainly bag some podiums this year, but whether it’s enough to challenge for the odd race win, it’s too early to say."

James Allen is usually on point with predictions/insight. Sounds promising, and what we were expecting.

Was anyone expecting Mercedes to be killing werewolves, or is JA getting his metaphors mixed again? Or is there no mercury?

Maybe James is being cute with his "off the record" chats but I found this piece to be really infuriating, journalistically. He sees the cars for the first time today and he's calling the midfield order, the return of Williams' pace, podiums for the boys from Brackley, etc.

[issues4]

I dont know if u guys have seen this video of the W03. for those of u that have not seen it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBiKYiZq ... re=related

im so glad the pipes are back in the area where they used to be, the cars sound great this year, shifts, overrun and eveything

[Websta]

im so glad the pipes are back in the area where they used to be, the cars sound great this year, shifts, overrun and eveything

I'd rather have the high 2011 noses with the EBD gurgling than 22 ironing boards screaming around the track.

[Gerhardsa]

im so glad the pipes are back in the area where they used to be, the cars sound great this year, shifts, overrun and eveything

I'd rather have the high 2011 noses with the EBD gurgling than 22 ironing boards screaming around the track.

why? that EBD sound was aweful..

[issues4]

we'll forget about the noses soon enough...just like we all did with the advent of the "UGLY" new wing rules in 2009. i remember when the BMW was first seen, like something out of a horror movie ...people were threatening to stop watching haha. Now if i see a 2008/2007 car it looks really silly...I like the new clean cars, they seem almost WWII fighter sleek, and i guess they proved to themselves that they didn't need all those cardboard cutout elements on the bodywork from pre 2009...back then f1 cars looked like transformers mid-transformation ....to me

[issues4]

im so glad the pipes are back in the area where they used to be, the cars sound great this year, shifts, overrun and eveything

I'd rather have the high 2011 noses with the EBD gurgling than 22 ironing boards screaming around the track.

why? that EBD sound was aweful..

+100000000000000000, i remember the days when a car sounding like that was " missing the left bank " haha...when the V10's used to go bang down the straights

[Schulteiss]

im so glad the pipes are back in the area where they used to be, the cars sound great this year, shifts, overrun and eveything

I'd rather have the high 2011 noses with the EBD gurgling than 22 ironing boards screaming around the track.

EBD? Was a huge farce, no thank you. As for the ironing boards, I agree they look stupid in every sense of the word. GP2 cars look way better. But it is not a beauty contest.

[kris]

we'll forget about the noses soon enough...just like we all did with the advent of the "UGLY" new wing rules in 2009. i remember when the BMW was first seen, like something out of a horror movie ...people were threatening to stop watching haha. Now if i see a 2008/2007 car it looks really silly...I like the new clean cars, they seem almost WWII fighter sleek, and i guess they proved to themselves that they didn't need all those cardboard cutout elements on the bodywork from pre 2009...back then f1 cars looked like transformers mid-transformation ....to me

Well said.. Look at this 2008 maclaren..
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/u ... 8_1024.jpg
http://www.f1technical.net/gallery/McLa ... hamilton_1

[issues4]

Well said.. Look at this 2008 maclaren..
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/u ... 8_1024.jpg
http://www.f1technical.net/gallery/McLa ... hamilton_1

[george1981]

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/02/b ... trackside/


"Meanwhile the Mercedes appears at first sight to be a good car with some interesting solutions in the diffuser, the exhausts and other areas, but it does not contain the silver bullet that some were expecting. It is a step forward for the Silver Arrows and should certainly bag some podiums this year, but whether it’s enough to challenge for the odd race win, it’s too early to say."

I remember something similar being said about the F2002, it didn't have new/better/different technology compared to it's rivals it was just a good car where the performance of everything had been maximised.

[Gerhardsa]

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/02/b ... trackside/


"Meanwhile the Mercedes appears at first sight to be a good car with some interesting solutions in the diffuser, the exhausts and other areas, but it does not contain the silver bullet that some were expecting. It is a step forward for the Silver Arrows and should certainly bag some podiums this year, but whether it’s enough to challenge for the odd race win, it’s too early to say."

I remember something similar being said about the F2002, it didn't have new/better/different technology compared to it's rivals it was just a good car where the performance of everything had been maximised.

I wish, but dont think the W03 will be THAT good....

[Tyler]

we'll forget about the noses soon enough...just like we all did with the advent of the "UGLY" new wing rules in 2009. i remember when the BMW was first seen, like something out of a horror movie ...people were threatening to stop watching haha. Now if i see a 2008/2007 car it looks really silly...I like the new clean cars, they seem almost WWII fighter sleek, and i guess they proved to themselves that they didn't need all those cardboard cutout elements on the bodywork from pre 2009...back then f1 cars looked like transformers mid-transformation ....to me

I quite like the noses.
I like being surprised every year by cars that look different to the previous years rather than having to look at the same cars year after year.
Half the fun of F1 is waiting to see what crazy interpretations of the rules the teams come up with - the more outlandish the better, even of they do look a bit ugly sometimes.
From the front the W03 looks like a bottle nose dolphin! - right down to the colour.

Why have Mercedes ditched their monkey seat above the beam wing.
I would have thought that this was an easy way to get extra downforce at the rear and with there being no more EBDS, they would be looking to claw back downforce however they can.
What is the drag to downforce ratio of these monkey seats?
Could Mercedes be a bit low of rear downforce - they put their old front wing on during some stages of the practice - maybe because they have enough front downforce but not enough rear?

[Gerhardsa]

Schumacher did a 1:24.236 on hard tyres while yesterday Vettel did a 1:22.891 on the mediums. Schumacher's time was on a 14 lap run whereas Vettel was on a 3-4 lap run (IIRC).

still impossible to compare because of Sand Bagging, fuel levels etc.
For all we know MSC could have had fuel for 15 laps, as well as Vettel.
I think only next weeks test will say more i think. I wonder if they will bring more diffuser solutions to test, or is this it. sorry havent seen anything on that yet in the thread. i know the exhausts will change, but diffuser? maybe, maybe not?

[shelly]

Why have Mercedes ditched their monkey seat above the beam wing.
I would have thought that this was an easy way to get extra downforce at the rear and with there being no more EBDS, they would be looking to claw back downforce however they can.
What is the drag to downforce ratio of these monkey seats?
Could Mercedes be a bit low of rear downforce - they put their old front wing on during some stages of the practice - maybe because they have enough front downforce but not enough rear?

Compared to last year everybody is trying to regain rear downforce.
As for he monkey seat: the central 150m of the car at the rear enjoy some loosened regulation, that are exploited for example by a monkey seat wing. From the pictures seen so far, it seems that merc have worked a lot in this area (see central upper part of diffuser above in this thread, and presence of "mysterious" pipes in the cannon outlet) and this suggests that maybe the monkey seat is not a good option in their context anymore this year.

A lot is still provisional on cars: It could be ha mcalren are using a monkey seat just to simulate the rear df gain they are expecting to get with thier next aero development scheduled for next test