Just_a_fan wrote: ↑06 Apr 2022, 23:27
vorticism wrote: ↑06 Apr 2022, 19:39
dialtone wrote: ↑06 Apr 2022, 19:11
As I said it already in this thread in the past, in my opinion any commentary that assumes Merc isn't smart, or hasn't thought of something obvious, is likely wrong or simplifying the problem too much. It should be obvious to assume that a team that won 8 WCCs in a row is stacked,
All during the greenwashing era, though--not an insignificant detail. Brackley only found success after the engine formula change in 2014; their power unit was the source of their record. As engine parity has been achieved over time, their leads diminished. Parity is such that even Audi are now considering entering the sport.
They weren't known for being aero leaders compared to RB for example, who won their titles prior to 2014 when aero was more critical, and engines were at closer to parity. As parity sets in again RB and Ferrari rise back in the ranks. That RB were able to keep up while using the early Renault PUs says something about the level of their chassis and aero work. Merc cars' aero usually had a bit of a design by brute force computation look to them. Staff size and money do not necessarily equate to good design leadership, so it's possible they could be barking up the wrong tree with these anhedral sidepods.
Had FIA stays against stays remained stayed they might be looking even less staid than what's already been displayed.
Wow, talk about revisionism. RB won because their engine supplier - who they later very publicly rubbished - gave them an ICE that provided the diffuser blowing (both hot and then later cold) that gave them an aero edge.
To claim that RB's earlier successes were purely aero is to, basically, lie.
As for the last sentence, bravo. Lovely play on words. Rubbish, but lovely.
Revisionist only if you never understood the original book. Things happen for a reason. There was a train of RB titles, followed by a train of Mercedes titles. Both happened for reasons that are understood by the seasoned Netflix eschewers. Before those, a train of Ferrari titles. So on and so forth.
RB had the aero formula worked out best heading into the 2009 change. Merc had the engine formula worked out heading into 2014.
If I say RB were victorious due to their aero and chassis, no one bats an eye. No one claims Vettel was carrying Newey on his back. If I say Merc were victorious because they had the most powerful/dependable engine in a clean sheet engine formula, I get a train of racist anti-racists playing the race card. (Most powerful engine for most of the seasons, and most dependable for all 8 seasons; this is not an insult of course and the Merc engineers shouldn't have been thrown under the bus for their ingenuity by the bandwagon.)
With engine development frozen and performance equalizing (although reliability trends are yet to be seen) and a new aero formula on the books, we see aero coming back to the fore. Guess who's back near the top?
