Mercedes W13

[ajprice]

Mercedes floor surface

[Henri]

Mercedes front wing looks more innovative.. central area allows more air to flow to the floor stronger flooor

[HungarianRacer]

The B Sport video explains the mirror support strakes, looks like they're legal there.

Yes, it looks like the mirror support and wavy floor is within rules and easy to copy according to ex F1 aerodynamics

Question is, how useful will that be for other teams? For this Merc, it seems to work well in concert with the relatively tall, concave, outward-cambered sidepod wall, a random, relatively shallow turning vane around that area wouldn't be that useful for teams with completely different sidepod shapes I'd imagine...

[siskue2005]

The B Sport video explains the mirror support strakes, looks like they're legal there.

Yes, it looks like the mirror support and wavy floor is within rules and easy to copy according to ex F1 aerodynamics

Question is, how useful will that be for other teams? For this Merc, it seems to work well in concert with the relatively tall, concave, outward-cambered sidepod wall, a random, realtively shallow turning vane around that area wouldn't be that useful for teams with completely different sidepod shapes I'd imagine...

Yes true, i could see Aston Martin using it who have a similar side pod area

[Stu]

Mercedes floor surface

I’m not sure that we are seeing the final product here, there looks to be something draped over the floor in front of the pressure measuring tubes.
It could be the start of ‘the phoney war’ for 2022; getting other teams to waste their (restricted) CFD runs on investigation of how it works.
Depending on how you read the rules around double curvature in the floor, there is the potential for it not to be legal. There is no floor edge wing either, and that has the potential to be very powerful.

[Shakeman]

http://postimg.cc/rKd3zc5G

This W13 picture somehow resembles with Mercedes AMG Project-One Hypercar :

http://postimg.cc/JDfJqbdz

Is this a serious post?

[AeroDynamic]

some more onboard footage, some is the same as before but there is a bit more of it. also some new angle from the nose

DRS Open and Shut

[f1jcw]

Mercedes front wing looks more innovative.. central area allows more air to flow to the floor stronger flooor

Wild speculation

The merc’s front wings looks most downforce laden which would also say more rear downforce to balance it.
Obviously none of the wings might be real.

[Shakeman]

I’m not sure that we are seeing the final product here, there looks to be something draped over the floor in front of the pressure measuring tubes.
It could be the start of ‘the phoney war’ for 2022; getting other teams to waste their (restricted) CFD runs on investigation of how it works.
Depending on how you read the rules around double curvature in the floor, there is the potential for it not to be legal. There is no floor edge wing either, and that has the potential to be very powerful.

Warning bells went off for me the moment the picture of that floor hit Twitter. It's all a bit too convenient to see such amazingly clear images of sensitive aero surfaces from a closed filming day.

Getting full value out of the under floor is obviously going to mean the upper and side of floor will be an area of intense development and I can't believe Merc would give so much away so early. Merc has turned up to testing with a car that never raced in the past and this could be a similar instance about getting on track data correlation to a previous step in development. And if it sponged up a few CFD runs of competitors in the process so much the better.

[ENGINE TUNER]

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... 9tPtR.html

The part about PU positioning (Merc vs Ferrari) is very interesting. Merc has pushed PU as backward as possible, while Ferrari has pushed PU as forward as possible. There were rumors that with the understeer-y nature of new cars, RedBull was trying to put PU forward and immediately behind the cockpit. We haven't seen RedBull yet, but Ferrari clearly has done this.
It seems that in terms of weight distribution and Center of Gravity, this PU placement has helped Ferrari, but Merc on the other hand has much slimmer sidepods thanks to pushing PU backward and using more centerline cooling.

I wonder which solution will be more effective with the new cars?!!

By regulation the fuel tank must be behind the driver and inside the safety cell, impossible the put the PU "immediately behind cockpit "

I doubt any of them have a PU in a much different place than the others.

I was just getting ready to point that out myself.

Shape of the fuel tank could play a role, longer skinnier, or shorter fatter. Volume of the battery pack will also play a role since it is forced to be placed inside the safety cell by the regulations, almost forcing it to be placed under the fuel cell. Ultimate Volume of the fuel cell itself, with Merc tending to be one of the most efficient cars on the grid by way of PU efficiency (we used to see them dominating races while using less than 90kg of fuel back in 2014 and 2015 when FOM put out the total fuel used graphic) and also by way of lower drag, and this less total time down the straight.

But also, Canada and Singapore are back on the schedule and are 2 of the highest fuel consumption races over the season, so they must design a tank large enough to fuel for the race with highest total fuel usage.

And with their split turbo, front compressor design the engine must have some space between the rear of the safety/fuel cell and the front of the ICE.

[ENGINE TUNER]

The mirror has a nice vane running behind it over the sidepod.

Yes, that is a nice feature. I guess that's some kind of loophole in the wording. I think those two loopholes (this winglet and the AM/Ferrari double bib on the tea-tray) are the kinds of things that can be quickly and easily copied by everyone.

Incredibly tight packaging

I wouldn't go that far, the Mercedes' famously large plenum is not even sticking out unlike on the McLaren. I think it's more of a mild packaging like say the 2019 Force India.

That’s merely one facet of the packaging.

I’d argue that in virtually every other respect, this is Merc’s most incredible packaging job ever.

The floor real estate is something to behold.

Especially since the regulation floor is smaller now than at any time since 2016.

[DarthPlagueisTheVise]

I am honestly puzzled as to why merc are releasing so much footage of the new car. They could have just done the launch with the show car and then do a shakedown like RB

[ENGINE TUNER]

Those front upper wishbones look absolutely fat. They are probably maximizing the amount of fairing they can use there. From the T-cam view, the upper wishbones almost look like a 2-pc wing.

The wheels/tires are bigger and heavier than ever, thus the suspension arms must be beefed up to sustain the increased loading.

[markc]

Because I'd imagine getting to grips with the new regs with as close to racing a spec is more important that worrying about copying, plus copying takes time to get right and then implement, so get ahead with what you have, worry about others later!

[Neuron]

I am honestly puzzled as to why merc are releasing so much footage of the new car. They could have just done the launch with the show car and then do a shakedown like RB

Two options:

1. They are veeeery confident
2. Final car will be totally different