Mercedes W13

[wjpbill]

I’m no expert but if the problem is suspension related, could the excruciatingly long delay in fixing it be because they need to re-pass crash tests to change it?

No, the mounting points are on the gearbox housing, which can be easily changed. Easy in the way that they tried the "new" suspension only on one car as it is costly and takes certainly a day to be assembled.

I would expect a new floor and wing package to get the rear higher. As said, the issue is zero suspension at high speed. Just changing the suspension will most probably not work. They need to go away from squatting the rear.

This brings us into Silverstone easily if they started to plan this change end of March, as they can not really bring this to Azer or Canada and Spain was too early.

Thanks for the explanation. It’s incredibly frustrating to sit there week after week watching them crunching and banging their way around the track and performing badly.

I’m slightly surprised the ICU can take it as well.

[PlatinumZealot]

The Radiused floor strakes did not work on Lewis' car it seems. Clearly an attempt to mimic RedBull's radiused strakes. It didn't help porpoising at all, it made it worse, and the Baku S2 times do indicate a slight downforce improvement. George had gurney, Lewis did not.

[Andi76]

Agree, they should look into this concept if their silverstone update doesn't work

I do not expect it to work, to be honest and they probably would have changed their concept already, as the disadvantages are quite obvious. Mercedes problem is that they cannot really change this concept because it would require a complete redesign of their whole cooling system and basically everything from the sidepod inlets rearwards.

I had posted this before here
They could do something like this
https://i.ibb.co/kyjJtGs/Screenshot-202 ... allery.jpg

All they need to do is to change the body work panel in the side pods to be larger and have internal stays inside the sidepods, and still maintain their zeropods at the front of the side pod entry. (after all Alpine brought two different wide sidepods to testing which is very easy and cheap to produce.)
The side pods could be somewhat like a ramp from 2019 2020 Racing point.
This will give them more support to the floor preventing it from fluttering if they have internal stays
Also will give good air flow condition by the side pods and will reduce drag very much
This don't need any changes to their cooling solution, its just body panel change
https://serving.photos.photobox.com/973 ... 50cea9.jpg
https://serving.photos.photobox.com/324 ... 16ee23.jpg

What you suggest is, that the team with a concept thats the total opposite, should adapt 50% of a totally contrary concept. That never worked in F1. Of course they could do that, but it would still be a compromise only. And probably even a very bad one. Thats the problem with this solution, because the sidepod-inlets are an essential part of the "big-sidepod"-concept with major aerodynamic advantages. And Mercedes cannot change them without totally redesigning their cooling-system and basically most of their rear because of that. So your solution means adapting only 50% of another concept with the lack of the other 50% and major aerodynamic advantages, while also giving away something that was an essential part of their own concept and an integral part of your cars aerodynamics... its give away an essential part of their concept only to gain a small part of another concept. At the end of the day they would probably gain nothing or even be worse and change was made for changes sake at best. Money, Windtunnel and CFD for nothing. So - yes, they could do what you suggest. But it would not really make sense.

[Sevach]

I think Montreal will be much better than Baku, less low speed corners.

Silverstone is going to be a good indicator.

Fully agreed!

However from what I recall there are a few bumps in Montreal like in Baku correct ?

Canada is full of short straights where Mercedes can stay safe from bouncing, the longest straight was fairly smooth last we saw it.
Baku looooong bumpy straight was worst case scenario to trigger bouncing imo.

[F1Krof]

Every time I see the onboard the car seems extremely lethargic at the front. Also the traction is not on par with RBR and Ferrari. Canada will be even worse.

[Ozan]

This is an image from Redbull RB18 topic, see how they connected the floor to the chassis via a big stay inside the sidepods. this can be achieved by changing the sidepods like siskue2005 suggested.

[cplchanb]

I think Montreal will be much better than Baku, less low speed corners.

Silverstone is going to be a good indicator.

Fully agreed!

However from what I recall there are a few bumps in Montreal like in Baku correct ?

Canada is full of short straights where Mercedes can stay safe from bouncing, the longest straight was fairly smooth last we saw it.
Baku looooong bumpy straight was worst case scenario to trigger bouncing imo.

Hopefully the wall of champions chicane won't cause the car to bounce into the wall

[PlatinumZealot]

https://cdn-2.motorsport.com/images/mgl ... enin-1.jpg

This is an image from Redbull RB18 topic, see how they connected the floor to the chassis via a big stay inside the sidepods. this can be achieved by changing the sidepods like siskue2005 suggested.

The floor can be made to be a thicker in order to house those stays. I believe Mercedes has done a partial verion of this but it proved not be be enough so far.

[AR3-GP]

The Radiused floor strakes did not work on Lewis' car it seems. Clearly an attempt to mimic RedBull's radiused strakes. It didn't help porpoising at all, it made it worse, and the Baku S2 times do indicate a slight downforce improvement. George had gurney, Lewis did not.

I think it's quite complicated to think that just a certain aspect of somebody's floor is linked to the porpoising. In other words, I don't think you can pick and choose certain parts.

[AR3-GP]

I think Montreal will be much better than Baku, less low speed corners.

Silverstone is going to be a good indicator.

Fully agreed!

However from what I recall there are a few bumps in Montreal like in Baku correct ?

Canada is full of short straights where Mercedes can stay safe from bouncing, the longest straight was fairly smooth last we saw it.
Baku looooong bumpy straight was worst case scenario to trigger bouncing imo.

Drivers reported no rear end in Baku.

[AR3-GP]

Does anyone have photos of the suspension changes?

[deadhead]

I think Montreal will be much better than Baku, less low speed corners.

Silverstone is going to be a good indicator.

Fully agreed!

However from what I recall there are a few bumps in Montreal like in Baku correct ?

I think so.. Its a street circuit after all

[cplchanb]

I think Montreal will be much better than Baku, less low speed corners.

Silverstone is going to be a good indicator.

Fully agreed!

However from what I recall there are a few bumps in Montreal like in Baku correct ?

I think so.. Its a street circuit after all

Not really... its a semi permanent circuit where the main straights are public roadways when not in use. However vehicular traffic is far lower than Monaco or baku so there's less chances of road wear like you would have on a city street.

[PlatinumZealot]

The Radiused floor strakes did not work on Lewis' car it seems. Clearly an attempt to mimic RedBull's radiused strakes. It didn't help porpoising at all, it made it worse, and the Baku S2 times do indicate a slight downforce improvement. George had gurney, Lewis did not.

I think it's quite complicated to think that just a certain aspect of somebody's floor is linked to the porpoising. In other words, I don't think you can pick and choose certain parts.

It was reported that his car with the test parts had worse porpoising.

[AR3-GP]

The Radiused floor strakes did not work on Lewis' car it seems. Clearly an attempt to mimic RedBull's radiused strakes. It didn't help porpoising at all, it made it worse, and the Baku S2 times do indicate a slight downforce improvement. George had gurney, Lewis did not.

I think it's quite complicated to think that just a certain aspect of somebody's floor is linked to the porpoising. In other words, I don't think you can pick and choose certain parts.

It was reported that his car with the test parts had worse porpoising.

How can you isolate the issue to the strakes? As opposed to the suspension?