ENGINE TUNER wrote: ↑06 Aug 2019, 03:37
yelistener wrote: ↑04 Aug 2019, 17:00
Somehow Mercedes is much better with race pace and tyre management than RB. I guess Saturday' Red Bull pole WAS a bit of "deception" that made us think the RB really caught up with Mercedes' chassis.
Merc could be massively more fuel efficient, running 10-15k less fuel. That could explain it.
The word from last year was that, due to high fuel efficiency, Mercedes was running 5-10 kilos lesser than Ferrari. This year though, at the beginning of the season, there were reports that due to change of front wing they lost as much as 2.5 seconds worth of downforce loss. So Mercedes decided to bolt as much downforce as possible, even though it was adding more drag penalty than their previous philosophy. They decided to compromise on PU efficiency and started carrying more fuel (at around 110 kilos) this season to push their PU harder to overcome the drag penalty.
Due to their high downforce, they could switch on the tires better, which was a big advantage whereas Ferrari and Red Bull struggled to work the tires. Red Bull though has improved vastly, but Ferrari has struggled to put downforce on the car. As the season progresses and with newer upgrades, Mercedes might be trying to remove as much drag as possible, so that they can reduce the weight they carry.
The reason why Mercedes is slower on straights is probably due to them carrying more drag than the other two, but it also makes them faster through downforce sections.