Mercedes W13

[PlatinumZealot]

Remember guys this thread is to discuss car development, not race results.

[elMaestro]

Going through this topic and other ones for that matter these past 2 days has been a roller coaster of emotions lol, from Friday where some started saying Merc has solved all of these issues and ready to win races to today where everyone is saying the car is a complete write off. Keep calm, we have a race day coming and Barcelona aswell. If they arent competitive in Barcelona even wih a new floor then you can really start to say the season is lookong likely to be lost. Lets be calm for a moment.

[Stu]

3.15.4 Front Wing Flap Flexibility
Any part of the trailing edge of any front wing flap may deflect no more than 5mm, when measured along the loading axis, when a 60N point load is applied normal to the flap

This is in the regulations.

[ringo]

Ok so this is for 60N load. So in essence if the flap is seeing more than that we can expect more than 5mm and be within the technical regs. And even at speed those flaps do not seem to be deflecting more than 10mm anyway.

[marcel171281]

Ok so this is for 60N load. So in essence if the flap is seeing more than that we can expect more than 5mm and be within the technical regs. And even at speed those flaps do not seem to be deflecting more than 10mm anyway.

60N is roughly 6 kg. The real load under driving is already more when going over 30kmh or so. As always it is a useless test, which has little relevance to the real situation the test is developed for.

And the deflecting shown yesterday on the Mercedes was a lot over 10mm, maybe even double that.

[RZS10]

Nothing to see here

That'll get stopped in no time i'd imagine. Surprised they get away with it.

It has been the same since their first barcleona test.
Its the same with ferrari and redbull front wings.

It would be interesting to see a comparison. [...]

It isnt new though its been like this since they launched the car, it isnt part of the wing upgrade.

The Ferrari does that too, people just aren't looking!

In the order of quotes:
-yep
-nope
-correct
-check link
-correct
-i looked
Link: viewtopic.php?p=1044613#p1044613

[maxxer]

Nothing to see here

That'll get stopped in no time i'd imagine. Surprised they get away with it.

It has been the same since their first barcleona test.
Its the same with ferrari and redbull front wings.

It would be interesting to see a comparison. [...]

It isnt new though its been like this since they launched the car, it isnt part of the wing upgrade.

The Ferrari does that too, people just aren't looking!

In the order of quotes:
-yep
-nope
-correct
-check link
-correct
-i looked
Link: viewtopic.php?p=1044613#p1044613

Nice link , the bloody things have to flex at some point otherwise they would just snap at some point.

[Stu]

Ok so this is for 60N load. So in essence if the flap is seeing more than that we can expect more than 5mm and be within the technical regs. And even at speed those flaps do not seem to be deflecting more than 10mm anyway.

Can I copy/paste this into the rear wing flex thread from last year (or is it still too soon?)??

[Stu]

They are flexing like this because the adjustment fixture only operates at one end of the flap. The teams have two choices, basically.
Those teams that are utilising paired adjustable flaps will have to either place the adjustment mechanism at the highest load point to maintain some rigidity; whereas those using a single adjustable flap can locate the mechanism to gain the maximum from the allowed flex test load.
Nobody seems to be adjusting the whole flap from within the nose structure.

[Sevach]

Piola drawing some pornography, apparently there's a small detail right at the edge of the wing.

[Stu]

I wonder how that sneaks past the regs on a couple of counts

Minimum radii
Number of elements

[hollus]

Just the usual regular reminder.
I have to say that 90%-ish of posts are on topic.

https://i.imgur.com/NVPF2Qz.png

This is the official Mercedes W13 car thread. The thread has been created to facilitate discussion specifically about the W13 car.

Please, ONLY discuss technical items of this car. Refrain from speculation.

General discussion about the team, its drivers and performance can be posted in the team thread.

Livery discussion also belongs in the 2022 Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team thread.

[Redragon]

what are the chances of seeing bulkier sidepods from Bacelona? 60% 70% 80%? And start to redisign towards 2023?

[atanatizante]

Looks like George possibly put a little more downforce on the car as he was bouncing wayyy more than Lewis, even in some corners it seems that made the car lose traction.

Nope! He tends to set up his car more towards qualy with a quicker warm-up phase than HAM (which is btw worse for the tyre management in the race), hence he just went over the optimal soft tyre windows overcooking the rear ones, hence he was sliding more at the rear and having no grip for the front tyres in order to attack the corners ... in contrast, with the low temps at Imola it worked out perfectly for him and not for HAM...

[ringo]

what are the chances of seeing bulkier sidepods from Bacelona? 60% 70% 80%? And start to redisign towards 2023?

I really dont find the sidepods have much to do with it.
But i do beleive a sidepod like ferrari that generates downforce could be a path to take that allows them to run smaller wings and lift the car a little.
However if the can improve the stability of the ground effect with floor upgrades they can have their cake and eat it with the zero sidepods.