The car is definitely draggy compared to the RB18 and Ferrari, but does at least produce a lot of downforce.
They'll be competitive in Singapore if they can get the tyres switched on for quali.
Nah, I have no hopes. The car does not like the bumps, and Singapore is one of the bumpiest tracks on the calendar. They will have to increase the ride height to cope with the bumps and in process will kill the performance. Also they are on the heavy side of the chassis, I don't think this will help them any bit.
A lot of people said the same about Hungary, and then that it wouldn't deal with the Zandvort banking and we know how both races panned out.F1Krof wrote: ↑12 Sep 2022, 09:53Nah, I have no hopes. The car does not like the bumps, and Singapore is one of the bumpiest tracks on the calendar. They will have to increase the ride height to cope with the bumps and in process will kill the performance. Also they are on the heavy side of the chassis, I don't think this will help them any bit.
I not saying the car isn't draggy it may be but there are other issues which can make the car look draggy when in fact it is not i.e. traction out of corners onto a long straight. A fraction less traction performance in this critical phase can result in meters at the end of a decent straight. As soon as Lewis was booted with Softs yesterday the car woke up and became a missile easily despatching the cars ahead.
I can't really see how they'll be good at Singapore with such a bad surface this track has!Shakeman wrote: ↑12 Sep 2022, 10:21I not saying the car isn't draggy it may be but there are other issues which can make the car look draggy when in fact it is not i.e. traction out of corners onto a long straight. A fraction less traction performance in this critical phase can result in meters at the end of a decent straight. As soon as Lewis was booted with Softs yesterday the car woke up and became a missile easily despatching the cars ahead.
The W13 has struggled with getting the tyres into the right window but when it switches on the tyres or the track conditions come towards the car the W13 can look a very different beast. I'd be surprised if this wasn't a major focus for the W14.
Pretty sure there won't be any further upgrade to this car as all focus has now shifted to 2023. I doubt Mercedes will push very hard to secure P2 in the WCC, as that would mean less CFD/wind tunnel time in 1H 2023, which they sorely need.
Top speed in Monza is drag limited (i.e the straight is so long that all cars reach the point where the drag force equals the engine power and are no longer able to accelerate). Traction is irrelevant.
Again, traction doesn't impact top speed in a place like Monza. The hit the drag limited terminal velocity near the pitlane exit in Monza. Merc could have the best traction in the world, and it wouldn't change their top speed at the end of the main straight. That's what "drag limited" means.
It is also deployment limited and they were clipping as they admitted and were barely slower than Ferrari down the straight, like 4 km/h?AR3-GP wrote: ↑12 Sep 2022, 21:16Top speed in Monza is drag limited (i.e the straight is so long that all cars reach the point where the drag force equals the engine power and are no longer able to accelerate). Traction is irrelevant.