FDD wrote: ↑28 Feb 2023, 19:41
If I understand right the problem is rather on mechanical/suspension side than on aero?
It's both it seems, front wing lacks a bit of downforce and suspension setup is not yet where it needs to be. It was always going to be both, until both drivers are happy with balance. Looking back at how the car was behaving on Thursday and later on Friday, it might be that they've established their ride height and found out they lack something on the front on Thursday. Then on Friday, with higher car, they could set it up properly, but losing time in doing so. And then on Saturday they go a bit lower and confirm the car is again too strong in the rear.
Now, if they will run lower this weekend and add the rear wing a bit, the balance will shift to the rear. If they found out they can't cover this added downforce with their front end, the we haven't yet seen how the car will actually behave when they set the aero loads as they planned to for the Bahrain race. So it may not be so much about the problems they experienced in the test, but rather about the problems they expect to have. This would confirm an aero balance problem.
Cs98 wrote: ↑28 Feb 2023, 20:02
They've traded some of their low efficiency downforce (RW) for high efficiency downforce (floor). Overall load the same, reduced drag. Nothing "insane" about it considering that would put them in the same boat as every other team, except most other teams kept the increased downforce instead of swapping to a low drag wing, at least in testing.
The insane bit is they've shed almost 10% of drag and kept the downforce if these reports are true. This doesn't mean they will simply gain the time in Q on top speed only, since tyres alone are quite "faster" this year. It also doesn't mean they wont add more front and rear wing, increasing both the drag and downforce from what was seen in testing. 5% is good progress, 10% would be truly insane. So I'm not holding my breath...