On the eve of this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, Mercedes showed off their long-awaited upgrades for their troubled 2023 F1 car which includes new sidepods, front suspension and floor.
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That's something i noticed too, but on studio rendered shots its not there, those are channels which may help cleaner rear wing airflow, can't wait to see this car on track in Bahrain.
But do you think this is the spec that they will bring in Bahrain? I'm still not convinced. They do last year, they will do this year. Besides, the n°1 rival was not show anything. I think that they keep it something important out of the attention
That's something i noticed too, but on studio rendered shots its not there, those are channels which may help cleaner rear wing airflow, can't wait to see this car on track in Bahrain.
I think they are doing a shakedown in an hour. Hopefully vids of that come out.
This is exactly what I thought they will do with the side pods!
They made the openings more vertical like the McLaren MP4/6. They seem to have moved a lot of components! Totally new front wing and clearly different concept to last years.
No changes on the suspension geometry though?
"The only rule is there are no rules" - Aristotle Onassis
So they got a bathtub Ferrari style accompanied with big canon style rear cooling exits just in order to get a slimmer than last year's zeropods style and thus lower the overall car`s drag, supposedly ...
The rendered car looks different from the one on stream (also unlikely the real one to race though), i don't see the point eyeball-analyzing the rendered one.
Last edited by LittleBobcat on 15 Feb 2023, 11:55, edited 1 time in total.
So the inlets are actually still vertical and there is an actual mirror bracket now. Not convinced by continuing with this idea at all... Still a better integration than W13, we'll see. The top of the car is even bulkier than last year, while sides are wider...
Big front wing concept change, seemingly less outwash.
You need to accept that hypotheses need to be adjusted sometimes.
Remember the discussion was that the zero pod wasnt the core issue but the overly flexible floor. So it seems they hav kep the same or even more smaller frontal cross section of the pod but extended the rear of it like a big boat tail to make the floor stiffer.... (it seems! )
Last edited by PlatinumZealot on 15 Feb 2023, 12:08, edited 1 time in total.
I spy with my aero eyes, vertical inlet outwashing pods reminiscent of the second iteration Mclaren last year - before they fully went down the ramp path.
I will say it: Maybe, they will change side pods in Bahrain? Like they did last year? Sidepod's shape looks too simple to me.
Concurred.
Those mid wings are exactly what they ran in '22. I'll eat my shoe if that is the '23 solution. I agree we are looking at a decoy car here.
Their upper bodywork with the shoulders and cannon exit would make far less sense with the zeropod solution. I prepare for some proper sidepods.
Interesting rear wing. The lower element seems to extend below/behind the DRS flap. Maybe they found gain in less open area between the element when DRS is opened as they would stall the lower element more?
Last edited by Henk_v on 15 Feb 2023, 12:02, edited 1 time in total.
So they got a bathtub Ferrari style accompanied with big canon style rear cooling exits just in order to get a slimmer than last year's zeropods style and thus lower the overall car`s drag, supposedly ...
They have channels behind the halo yes. Not quite bathtubs because they're too long and skinny. it's more of a gutter
I will say it: Maybe, they will change side pods in Bahrain? Like they did last year? Sidepod's shape looks too simple to me.
Concurred.
Those mid wings are exactly what they ran in '22. I'll eat my shoe if that is the '23 solution. I agree we are looking at a decoy car here.
Their upper bodywork with the shoulders and cannon exit would make far less sense with the zeropod solution. I prepare for some proper sidepods.
Plus the sidepods have the ultra-smooth look of the spec A w13 sidepods, and then they were melted on the car at bahrain. Expecting the same sort of thing again