Mercedes AMG F1 W03

[wesley123]

They are looking much, much better compared to last year and the year before

[siskue2005]

Who cares how DRS works...

WHen Mercedes looks bad

With tyre issues...


Not looking good.

fair weather fans
only interested in the car if its fast
please proceed to RBR / Mclaren thread

[siskue2005]

They are looking much, much better compared to last year and the year before

Exactly
Lets wait to see how Schumy does this weekend
Nico seems to lose all his motivation if Schumy retires, its been same in 2011 also

[Crucial_Xtreme]

Michael is adamant about trying to not let photogs get a shot of the FW

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5gjPrb43LA[/youtube]

[bot6]

Ross Brawn said that the tyres were outside of the ideal working temperature due to the environmental conditions. Could it be that Merc miscalculated the optimal tyre pressure for the race, rather than the car itself being at fault? This (along with the fancy DRS/F duct) would explain the huge difference in performance between quali and race.

[Carbon]

Michael is adamant about trying to not let photogs get a shot of the FW

Very interesting video. So...special/blown front wing, or is it a rouse to keep attention on the front end, whereas the rearend is where the critical eye should fall.

Thanks for posting.

[Owen.C93]

We've seen the slots underneath the FW already unfortunately.

[Crucial_Xtreme]

delete......

[Marc.W]

They are looking much, much better compared to last year and the year before

I agree, they seem to have much better 1 lap pace than previous years although that seems to be translating into massive tyre degradation through the race

[aduka11]

Saw that video yesterday


Michael is so cool on it


Like a boss..

[aduka11]

I don't think its was the track temperature that was main reson of it...


Even during testings on graphs...it was visble that Merc had much bigger tire degradation than RBR or Mclaren.

Even Nico said that they had degradation problems...and now seing it i still think they havent foud the cure.

[Fizz.Schumi]

why are people jumping to conclusions already ???

Merchave a strong package and timings in testing have already proved this to be the case + the DRS did not benefit them so much in melborune quali seeing that they had the same straight line speed as the mighty Mclarens through the speed traps. The car looks great in handling and degradation was equal to the top teams IF NOT BETTER on longer runs and evidence for that has already been mentioned before on a different site (link was posted on this forum i think) *edit i am on about final testing in terms of race pace analysis*


There can be many reasons the car failed to perform, using Michael's stats from this race is going to get you a false analysis seeing that lap 5 onwards he started playing with the gears as he kept loosing drive. Nico however didn't have such a good performance and if Brawn is correct in saying that the tires fell out of the optimum temp range then the setup had been judged horribly wrong and can be amended for a better performance come sepang (they won't be at mclarens pace but could just slot behind the mclarens and RBR's )

Both drivers and brawn seem upbeat even after such a bad start so the more they make us the wait the more excitement is gonna build for me that's for sure and I'm definitely sure theirs a lot more to come.

[clipsy1H]

We've seen the slots underneath the FW already unfortunately.

yes .... but not in great details damn **** photographs. Perhaps Michael had to break the wing.

[Crucial_Xtreme]

Mercedes F-Duct scenarios analyzed on how they think it works. The title does end in a question mark.

A wing of a single element which we see as the flow separates from the wing. This is BAD.


Wing 2 FLAT (No F-Duct. Well curve. Poor in straight)
With a wing of two elements, the flow passes through the slot to prevent separation of fluid, keeping the laminar regime. More downforce. This is GOOD in curves and on straight BAD


2012 MERCEDES WING
When the air blows in the duct slot, it disrupts the laminar air flow, causing turbulence behind the spoiler, the stall, and permits the loss of resistance(drag). LESS RESISTANCE. This is good in straights and bad for curves.


These images are from a pretty good analysis. It can be found here at the F1 Writers website. It is in Espanol but if you don't understand Spanish Google translate or Bing Translator work well enough for you to get the jist.

[Huntresa]

You cause turbulence and still loss drag? Didnt the original F-Duct remove the vortices created when the 3 air pressures meet on the wing ? And by removing them removing turbulence and drag, not created turbulence.