Mercedes W13

[AR3-GP]

I also felt that it was hot metal, but the Mark Hughes article does change things. Mark usually gets his information from the horse's mouth and if it's being published on Formula1.com, it's likely been vetted. He's probably just asked the Mercedes engineers what it is and they've told him. It might actually be a sensor.

With that said, the placement is a bit strange. Given that the front of the t-tray showers sparks down the floor of the car as it scrapes the ground, it would ruin any optical measurements.

[Big Tea]

I initially thought it was metal, but after watching it the 'light' is constant.
If it was something touching the track it would vary in intensity with speed and oscillation of the car, which it does not seem too.

[PlatinumZealot]

I also felt that it was hot metal, but the Mark Hughes article does change things. Mark usually gets his information from the horse's mouth and if it's being published on Formula1.com, it's likely been vetted. He's probably just asked the Mercedes engineers what it is and they've told him. It might actually be a sensor.

With that said, the placement is a bit strange. Given that the front of the t-tray showers sparks down the floor of the car as it scrapes the ground, it would ruin any optical measurements.

That peice of metal would be too big to get white hot from some rubbing. Sparks are a different thing all together.

[OO7]

Sensor.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/the-g ... content=uk

The article is wrong. Although Hamilton's car ran additional sensors apparently, the 'light' underneath was not a sensor, it was just the skid block glowing from rubbing on the ground.

They both have almost identical lens flare, the size of the light source as it appears in the image is similar, even the lightened tarmac is visible in both (Merc running higher than the RB) ... i don't understand the insistance on "it's a glowing car part" when everything points to it being a sensor that could be switched on/off (which is even hinted at in the article: "when switched on")
https://i.imgur.com/L4XvhjZ.png ... the insert is pixelated and blurred from the RB

I'd bet a decent sum of cash that a higher res image would make it absolutely clear.

edit: et voilà
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQJYgpeXoAU ... &name=orig
https://i.imgur.com/pqPLvtx.png

The reason I'm insistent it's not a sensor, is because I've seen the entire footage as I described in the linked post here: viewtopic.php?p=1054214#p1054214

Also, there was quite a bit of footage shown of Hamilton's car throughout the Grand Prix, at the beginning, during the middle phase when he battled with Alonso and also at the end while racing against Russell. During the whole race, the only time (one occasion) the tea tray could be seen glowing, was after sparking heavily while overtaking Alonso.

[Owen.C93]

Agreed. It’s just glowing from the friction. We’ve seen fires in that area during pit stops before.

Ride height sensors have been run further forward that sometimes show up on certain cameras because they are infrared.

[VacuousFlamboyant]

At some point I was wondering why the metal piece in the T-tray wouldn't cool down over half a lap. It's a sensor, that's why. You got to wear a sheet of metal over your head to see it. I want to believe! The high-res images gave it away.

[AR3-GP]

I also felt that it was hot metal, but the Mark Hughes article does change things. Mark usually gets his information from the horse's mouth and if it's being published on Formula1.com, it's likely been vetted. He's probably just asked the Mercedes engineers what it is and they've told him. It might actually be a sensor.

With that said, the placement is a bit strange. Given that the front of the t-tray showers sparks down the floor of the car as it scrapes the ground, it would ruin any optical measurements.

That peice of metal would be too big to get white hot from some rubbing. Sparks are a different thing all together.

The tea tray is being driven into the ground with a force of over twice the weight of the car at 300km/h. There is more than enough friction to cause the tip to glow. Brake disc glow the same way when hot due to friction.

[PlatinumZealot]

I also felt that it was hot metal, but the Mark Hughes article does change things. Mark usually gets his information from the horse's mouth and if it's being published on Formula1.com, it's likely been vetted. He's probably just asked the Mercedes engineers what it is and they've told him. It might actually be a sensor.

With that said, the placement is a bit strange. Given that the front of the t-tray showers sparks down the floor of the car as it scrapes the ground, it would ruin any optical measurements.

That peice of metal would be too big to get white hot from some rubbing. Sparks are a different thing all together.

The tea tray is being driven into the ground with a force of over twice the weight of the car at 300km/h. There is more than enough friction to cause the top to glow. Brake disc glow the same way when hot due to friction.

Brake disk glow red. But white hot? Nah. Not gonna happen with that bulk. And notice the white light is only in a small area. This would not happen with a bulk peice of metal. Biot number too low for that. (more uniform conductivity). Sparks are different becausw those are tiny peices reacting with oxygen.

[AR3-GP]

That peice of metal would be too big to get white hot from some rubbing. Sparks are a different thing all together.

The tea tray is being driven into the ground with a force of over twice the weight of the car at 300km/h. There is more than enough friction to cause the top to glow. Brake disc glow the same way when hot due to friction.

Brake disk glow red. But white hot? Nah. Not gonna happen with that bulk. And notice the white light is only in a small area. This would not happen with a bulk peice of metal. Biot number too low for that. (more uniform conductivity). Sparks are different becausw those are tiny peices reacting with oxygen.

You can see the design of the t-tray in the image below:



It's wooden. There is a small section of metal at the leading edge. Titanium most likely.

[PlatinumZealot]

George's car doesn't have the light.

Even at the finish line when the bib is not touching the floor you still see the light.

Go to 6:19 in the video.

[johnny comelately]

Remember when Sebastian Loeb was running a (similar looking) height sensor on his C4 Citroen WRC car

[OO7]

George's car doesn't have the light.

Even at the finish line when the bib is not touching the floor you still see the light.

Go to 6:19 in the video.

There was no light in the footage you linked to PZ. I'll say this again. I watched the entire race again, paying specific attention to the bib of Hamilton's car whenever it was shown. The only period time it was ever seen to be glowing throughout the whole race, was after sparking heavily while overtaking Alonso at start of lap 31 into T1. The glowing stopped as the car approached T3 (perhaps a third to half way down the straight between T2 and T3) on that same lap.

[ringo]

I also felt that it was hot metal, but the Mark Hughes article does change things. Mark usually gets his information from the horse's mouth and if it's being published on Formula1.com, it's likely been vetted. He's probably just asked the Mercedes engineers what it is and they've told him. It might actually be a sensor.

With that said, the placement is a bit strange. Given that the front of the t-tray showers sparks down the floor of the car as it scrapes the ground, it would ruin any optical measurements.

It is a sensor and its been used for years. Not the first time i am seeing it.
It may well be a camera with a lamp. That camera can be IR to detect track temperature, it can be recording the roughness of the track to help with their flow analysis, it can be recording ground speed and yaw of the car relative to the track. Who knows. But it's something i have seen in testing for years.

I do not think it is metal glowing. The air would cool it really fast. also if this is not a steel part, i dont think white metal would glow so much.

[vorticism]

It's ball lightning.

[OO7]

I also felt that it was hot metal, but the Mark Hughes article does change things. Mark usually gets his information from the horse's mouth and if it's being published on Formula1.com, it's likely been vetted. He's probably just asked the Mercedes engineers what it is and they've told him. It might actually be a sensor.

With that said, the placement is a bit strange. Given that the front of the t-tray showers sparks down the floor of the car as it scrapes the ground, it would ruin any optical measurements.

It is a sensor and its been used for years. Not the first time i am seeing it.
It may well be a camera with a lamp. That camera can be IR to detect track temperature, it can be recording the roughness of the track to help with their flow analysis, it can be recording ground speed and yaw of the car relative to the track. Who knows. But it's something i have seen in testing for years.

I do not think it is metal glowing. The air would cool it really fast. also if this is not a steel part, i dont think white metal would glow so much.

So the sensor coincidentally only happened to be turn on while the car was heavily sparking, for very short period of time on lap 31 and was not used at any other point during the entire Grand Prix....! Nah, I don't think so. The Red Bull has done the same at other events as well, with the glow only visible after significant and prolonged contact with the track surface.