Mercedes W13

[ScottB]

How difficult is this to copy?

I believe Merc have pushed the radiators into the monocoque so probably not something that can be copied in season.

[dren]

How difficult is this to copy?

To me, it seems like the big benefit is using the crash structure and inlet area as wings yet again, similar to what teams were doing a with the old regulations pioneered by Ferrari. I can see the Williams being able to pull off something similar and maybe the Mclaren. The Mercedes powered teams all have rather tight sides.

[Shakeman]

How difficult is this to copy?

It's unproven on track, until it is then no one's going to copy it. If that's the case then the actual question is how difficult is it to copy within the cost cap an CFD limits?

What's Merc's technical advantage here? Is there some mysterious chemical coolant system at play or just magic packaging? What are they other teams going to have to copy? It's easy to say package like the Merc, doing it is another task.

[F1Krof]

How difficult is this to copy?

I'm here eating my words saying that there won't be such a thing.

But the real question is, does it work on track? They have to confirm it first, seems like for the initial run that Hamilton did, the car's handling wasn't good at all. Maybe it's not even worth copying. Let's see whether the issues lies within the setup and not in something fundamental.

[Giblet]

How difficult is this to copy?

It's unproven on track, until it is then no one's going to copy it. If that's the case then the actual question is how difficult is it to copy within the cost cap an CFD limits?

What's Merc's technical advantage here? Is there some mysterious chemical coolant system at play or just magic packaging? What are they other teams going to have to copy? It's easy to say package like the Merc, doing it is another task.

Just on how the rads are packaged and the using the same engine, I feel like Williams would need less work to make the same concept work on their car vs say Ferrari.

[JonoNic]

@Vanja #66 We would love to see what results that you could come up with these side pods.

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[PlatinumZealot]

Should a mandatory crush structure device be used as the aero solution? Much like with Ferrari's halo mounted mirror winglets one could argue that this must not be allowed and if Brackley were to purse this design the crush structure element has to be redesigned to remove any aero solutions as presented at this time.

The frontal volume of the side pods has always been free for interpretation of mirror mounts and other sharp radiused bodywork.

[SuperCNJ]

How difficult is this to copy?

I believe Merc have pushed the radiators into the monocoque so probably not something that can be copied in season.

The teams may have already started to work on the 2023 car now and I guess to make any drastic changes given the cost cap would be pretty difficult especially if they have committed down a particular design philosophy.

[Avtandil]

Should a mandatory crush structure device be used as the aero solution? Much like with Ferrari's halo mounted mirror winglets one could argue that this must not be allowed and if Brackley were to purse this design the crush structure element has to be redesigned to remove any aero solutions as presented at this time.

The frontal volume of the side pods has always been free for interpretation of mirror mounts and other sharp radiused bodywork.

For mirror mounts and flick ups sure but not for the wing like element attached to the crush structure towards the back. That exposed structure is no longer the sidepod and while it serves as the mirror stay and benefits from liberties from the front it is very much debatable if it can benefit from the same liberties for a volume that is neither part of the sidepod not of the crush structure.

[Postmoe]

I would really love to know more about the development process at Mercedes.
Some hypothesis:

1: strategic use of a big bunch of resources last year to ensure this initial phase is devoid of any budget cap, novel concept with tons of thought.
2: Risky bet onto a new concept in a timeframe well within the budget cap phase, so maybe much promising but lacking a lot of refinement.
3: They are so good they can unzip their pants and do the CFD version of the **ck helicopter, didn't need so much as a try as to get to THE groundbreaking avenue.

For sport's sake, I hope it's the second, but Mercedes have a history of long term strategic maneuvering, don't they?

[NicoS]

How difficult is this to copy?

Why would anyone want to copy?

[AeroDynamic]

@Albert fabrega

[JonoNic]

I would really love to know more about the development process at Mercedes.
Some hypothesis:

1: strategic use of a big bunch of resources last year to ensure this initial phase is devoid of any budget cap, novel concept with tons of thought.
2: Risky bet onto a new concept in a timeframe well within the budget cap phase, so maybe much promising but lacking a lot of refinement.
3: They are so good they can unzip their pants and do the CFD version of the **ck helicopter, didn't need so much as a try as to get to THE groundbreaking avenue.

For sport's sake, I hope it's the second, but Mercedes have a history of long term strategic maneuvering, don't they?

Remember when Hamilton was saying? "My team don't make mistakes." That comment could age very well.

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[ryaan2904]

Is there a CFD underway at all? I know you came under some heat with the last Merc one but I can say the majority of us massively appreciated your work you posted to the forum.

Thanks, but not this time. Design is too complex to model. I'd say this time the sidepod drag is truly minimal , but if there was any kind of minimal rear tyre flow conditioning before, now there isn't...

Shouldn't the drag increase due to the rear tyre wake?

[shamyakovic]

Is there a CFD underway at all? I know you came under some heat with the last Merc one but I can say the majority of us massively appreciated your work you posted to the forum.

Thanks, but not this time. Design is too complex to model. I'd say this time the sidepod drag is truly minimal , but if there was any kind of minimal rear tyre flow conditioning before, now there isn't...

Shouldn't the drag increase due to the rear tyre wake?

The small sidepods compensates for that