Mercedes AMG F1 W03

[retpog55]

Ross Brawn made a comment before Australia which stood out. He stated that the other teams still blowing exhaust gases to the lower rear of their car externally would suffer higher tyre degradation due to the extra heat.

"Some teams have gone for a design that is clearly still blowing the exhaust in the area of the rear tyre – that may have an effect when rear tyre degradation is critical because it is much more difficult to manage where the exhaust flow goes this year than it was last year. Last year it was quite precise, this year it is more general because you cannot have the exhaust pipes to blow through the diffuser.

"There will be some interestings twists and turns over the first few races."

The fact that Merc didnt have a similar exhaust system in place yet still suffered bad tyre degradation has me slightly concerned. It does make you wonder if they will be able to revise and apply their exhaust system similar to Mclaren/Red Bull/Sauber at all at the risk of even higher degradation.

[Raptor22]

Ross Brawn made a comment before Australia which stood out. He stated that the other teams still blowing exhaust gases to the lower rear of their car externally would suffer higher tyre degradation due to the extra heat.

The fact that Merc didnt have a similar exhaust system in place yet still suffered bad tyre degradation has me slightly concerned. It does make you wonder if they will be able to revise and apply their exhaust system similar to Mclaren/Red Bull/Sauber at all at the risk of even higher degradation.

Merc's high tyre degradation was due to the tyres never fully getting up to temperature. Its not a inherant car problem its just that they once again got caught out by the exhaust rules. Red Bull did too but responded in time for the third test.

You can bet Merc is going to have a similar layout on the W03 come China. Their advantage is that the other teams are going to find to tougher and harder to copy their DRS in a hurry. Thats why Horner and that olive oil haired Boullier want clarification from the FIA re the legality.
You can bet McLaren already have a system on their car explaining why they're mum about it. This season is going to be about McLaren Merceded, AMG Mercedes and Red Bull, with Lotus playing a supporting role.
Lotus works the tyres beautifully but Merc will get on top of their heating issues and the season will come to them once they get to warmer climes.

The W03 handles beautifully, Schumacher can throw it into a corner and slide it to heat up the tyres only to loose the heat on the straights. He is able to make more of the cars constantly changing characteristics as tyre temps fluctuate. They can and will develop this out.

[King Six]

Formula1.com analysis of Mercedes' F-duct rear wing:
http://www.formula1.com/news/technical/ ... 4/945.html

I still think there's no real legal issue. DRS is there to dump drag. The F-duct simply enhances that by also dumping drag on the front wing.

There's obviously no technical rule which bans that ducting system or the slot system so that's fine.
It doesn't infringe on the 'aerodynamic benefit' rule like the suspension, because the primary purpose of DRS is all aerodynamic/drag reduction anyway, unlike suspension.
It doesn't infringe the 'driver aero' rules because DRS is sanctioned driver moveable aero that's there to dump drag.

Those three statements allow for this kind of front wing duct if you ask me...

[Afterburner]

Stupid idea, could mercedes be blowing f-duct with exaust/hot gases?

[Dragonfly]

I think ducting the exhaust through other than the 2 mandatory pipes is forbidden.

[King Six]

So what are the actual rules about a marshall pushing a car back onto the track. From what I've seen, it's a case of "how much you feel like, plus how much you like the guy" there's zero consistency...

Ahh..going off topic... how bout that mercury suspension. No not the planet..

[Huntresa]

If you get stuck on in the gravel etc even if the car is running they arent allowed to help you, if you cant get out by youreself you are stuck.

[Pierce89]

Mike was a D bag to the camera men.

Why cause he wouldn't let him take a photo of important part of the car?

Dear lord.

I find this extremely funny to be honest =D>


Have you seen the guy on your avatar and his attitude towards that marshall?

Those camera men's job is to film the action. Mike's job is to drive, not to interfere with other non-driver's jobs. Every team has the underside filmed when the driver eff's up. It's a fact of life in F1. Mike however thinks it's his job to harass camera men.

Alonso got mad because the marshalls used to treat Mike to a push every time. He wanted one too. Sounds fair to me.
Oh and I distinctly don't remember Alonso harassing camera men while his car was on the hook in quali.

[yener]

If you get stuck on in the gravel etc even if the car is running they arent allowed to help you, if you cant get out by youreself you are stuck.

Tell that to the marshalls who've pushed Mike out many a time.

Edit: I'm sorry mods, these last 2 pages are my fault.

Michael was pushed because it was allowed in the RULES.
Michael got pushed out when he had 1 tyre on the track. Thats why he got pushed and Fernando didnt.

These days i think its not allowed at all anymore.

[spadeflush]

I remember back in 2002/03, i think it was Austria where Michael was helped out of the gravel by marshals and it was within the rules because the car was in a dangerous position. Think they have changed that rule now. Anyway, I dnt think Michael did anything wrong by restricting cameramen to snap away pics of an innovation that has been mastered by his team by putting in countless number of hours over winter. In fact, I think that shows how much the team means to him.

[Afterburner]

If they could they would cover all the car with something, it's part of the game hide as much as you can, nothing wrong in it.

[myurr]

If they could they would cover all the car with something, it's part of the game hide as much as you can, nothing wrong in it.

I think there is something wrong with it. The other teams will get the shot anyway and will often already know what is going on with a fair degree of confidence. The paddock is relatively small after all and people talk, plus there are a lot of smart guys there.

All the teams actually do when they block the cameras is stop the fans from seeing what's going on. This is especially true on the grid where you have the likes of Red Bull, and this year Mercedes, getting their engineers to stand around the car looking all grumpy. It's childish, doesn't protect them from the other teams finding out what they're doing, and just stops the TV cameras from educating the fans.

Pierce is bit bitter cuz Camera man didnt get better pictures of F-duct..so competition could copy it(mostly Ferrari).

The other teams already have all the pictures they want. They have people with cameras at the race, they have subscriptions of Sutton and the like, they have engineers examining every aspect of the cars, they run acoustic analysis to work out how fast cars are and how their engines are performing (and can even probably determine changes in drag due to DRS / F duct operation).

[Paul]

They are obviously hiding stuff primarily from f1technical visitors, because they don't want to go through another 200 page thread.

[___]

The other teams already have all the pictures they want. They have people with cameras at the race, they have subscriptions of Sutton and the like, they have engineers examining every aspect of the cars, they run acoustic analysis to work out how fast cars are and how their engines are performing (and can even probably determine changes in drag due to DRS / F duct operation).

I heard they analyse the colour of the exhaust plume to work out what the drivers had for breakfast that morning to optimise their own drivers' nutrition regimes...

[Chuckjr]

I remember back in 2002/03, i think it was Austria where Michael was helped out of the gravel by marshals and it was within the rules because the car was in a dangerous position. Think they have changed that rule now. Anyway, I dnt think Michael did anything wrong by restricting cameramen to snap away pics of an innovation that has been mastered by his team by putting in countless number of hours over winter. In fact, I think that shows how much the team means to him.

+1