Mercedes W13

[mwillems]

The track is very bumpy so the car may well behave differently here for that reason alone.

[AeroDynamic]

Winglet


On the controversial 'Wing'



#AMuS

[mwillems]

Ross Brawn has confirmed live that he has seen nothing that is unnaceotabke here in Bahrain.

[AeroDynamic]

Ross Brawn has confirmed live that he has seen nothing that is unnaceotabke here in Bahrain.

But he also Suggested that it can change if another team provides an argument that wasn't considered, and may be valid.

[Just_a_fan]

Ross Brawn has confirmed live that he has seen nothing that is unnaceotabke here in Bahrain.

But he isn't the FIA. If a team comes up with an argument that the FIA hadn't previously considered, they might still change their mind and say a n idea is not allowed after all.

I expect to see Horner complaining a lot in the next few days/weeks...

[Tzk]

I wonder if that is actually a hole they can open up, just like the Williams...

[214270]

It’s the side impact structure with some bodywork around it, not a wing. Wouldn’t that be the Merc interpretation?

[Tzk]

It’s the side impact structure with some bodywork around it, not a wing. Wouldn’t that be the Merc interpretation?

Somewhat. Actually it's the SIS cover and a mirror holder

[phluppsen]

Wow. Even with the stays added to the rear of the floor it still looks terrible to drive at speed.

[imugli]

I wonder if that is actually a hole they can open up, just like the Williams...

https://i.imgur.com/GYy5XqU.png

I was thinking the same.

[gandharva]

W13 istn't working at all at the moment. Massive porpoising on the straight even with DRS open and also lots of problems during coernering. Hamilton had to abondon his pushlap due to all this problems.

[InsaneX_Badger]

W13 istn't working at all at the moment. Massive porpoising on the straight even with DRS open and also lots of problems during coernering. Hamilton had to abondon his pushlap due to all this problems.

Let's hope that in the end they find the setup like in 2019 testing.

[imugli]

AMuS article on the car. I find this section particularly interesting:

The revised W13 may look like a completely new car, but it is not. More like an evolution. "We have only built new bodywork. The innards underneath have remained the same. In Barcelona we simply had more air between the bodywork and the components underneath," explains team boss Toto Wolff. Chief engineer Andrew Shovlin confirms: "Mechanically, the car is the same as in Barcelona. Only the outer skin has changed."

I was thinking about this before, and they've just confirmed it.

So here's a question... Could Merc have and run 2 body & wing setups through the year as needed? Barcelona spec body and wings where it suits, and Bahrain spec where it suits?

I know it's an out there idea, but if the body is just a "top hat", is there a scenario where the Barcelona top hat could be beneficial as opposed to the Bahrain, and vice versa?

[AeroDynamic]

bargeboard comparison


Bulkier packaging beneath the INEOS logo mentioned previously

[Marty_Y]

'An incredible feat of engineering'

Andrew Benson

BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Why all the fuss about the upgraded Mercedes side-pods, which are even more shrink-wrapped than when the car first appeared? Well, first of all, it is an incredible feat of engineering to package all the architecture within them - radiators, pipes etc - inside such a small space, and with such a small inlet for cooling air. But mainly, it’s all about airflow, specifically ensuring a flow as clean and fast as possible to the rear of the car, where it does a number of important jobs.

First, teams want to “seal” the gap between the floor and the rear tyres, to prevent air leaking around the sides and slowing down the all-important airflow under the car.

Under the floor, the faster the air flows through the ground-effect “venturi” tunnels - returned to F1 this year for the first time since 1982 following the major rules changes -the more downforce the car has, and the faster it goes. How does the over-body airflow affect this? The faster the air is travelling over the top of the rear floor, the lower the pressure there - and the lower the pressure, the more it “pulls” the under-body airflow out of the diffuser, and the faster that goes. There is also the lower rear “beam” wing to energise.

All the teams are trying to do the same things, and have various methods of doing it - Ferrari’s scalloped side-pods; Red Bull’s heavy side-pod under-cut - but Mercedes have taken this to remarkable extremes.