Probably Ferrari's worst track until the end of the season. It'll be nip-and-tuck between Merc and Ferrari from here on out.
They haven't still figured out if they're on the right path...
Impossible without on-track verification.
It is not similar, but it is good fun to say so.Farnborough wrote: ↑09 Oct 2023, 11:31I feel it would be hypocritical for LH to say otherwise though, given such similar contact layout.
??? What do you expect from them?Farnborough wrote: ↑09 Oct 2023, 11:31The remainder of this season is much more important in development terms to them now, in the exploration of any concept shift that can feed the next car development.
I still do not get what you want here? He came alongside of Ver because of the slipstream. Ham was close to him also just because he wanted slipstream.101FlyingDutchman wrote: ↑09 Oct 2023, 11:38They clearly had a chat about this scenario and rather than take just HAM into the lead and getting 2/3rds of the pie, he thought to go for the final slice too.
Agh it’s racing and you can’t tell these alphas to just back off. In the history of teammates it very rarely happens to just say “after you sir”
I could see it being they just want on track real world data to confirm what they are developing works and not end up with another W13 where the wind tunnel says one thing and it does another on track even though this year their correlation in terms of upgrades has been pretty good.
https://formu1a.uno/mercedes-ad-austin- ... a-attuale/"Suzuka had features that our car likes and many others that we don't like, but in Singapore there was everything we like and nothing we didn't like. Qatar is a bit of a middle ground," examined the Mercedes DT, explaining a bit this swing of performance, with an unexciting Japanese weekend. At Losail the W14 returned to excellent performance levels, also due to very special conditions linked above all to the new asphalt that made the W14 outperform compared to expectations. Without the incident at the start between the two drivers of the former world champion team, for which Lewis Hamilton took full responsibility, the W14 could have fought on equal terms with the MCL60. Even within the team they believe that the potential seen in the race could have even worried the RB19 of Max Verstappen, the new three-time world champion.
One of the problems that often caused an important limitation of performance was the hopping, from which the W14 still suffers and of which Mercedes "we would like to deprive ourselves of it completely" – said James Allison. "Many teams are still struggling with a bit of bouncing and this can also vary depending on the wind or the condition of wake or not." The new bottom that will debut in Austin will have the task of controlling it better using more appropriate ground heights. The W14 is a car that had been optimized to have its peak performance with rather high ground clearances. "Last year we designed a car that had to exploit heights from the ground too low, this year too high" - said Toto Wolff at the beginning of the season - "Now we think we know what and how to choose". Austin will take a new step forward in that direction, a small step forward for the W14 but which will be much more useful for the 15 W2024.
2 years into this new regulation, it may be too late for Merc to start from scratch and expect to catch the leader. What they are doing now could be a Frankenstein approach of testing different concepts on the car and hoping that when they put them together they will get a winning package. With a budget cap, such an approach will have limitations.
In qatar russell had almost zero porpoising, there were very occasional hops, but almost negligible. I'd say most cars were fine in this regard on this track. A far cry from Spa trampoline like behaviour.AR3-GP wrote: ↑09 Oct 2023, 22:24https://formu1a.uno/mercedes-ad-austin- ... a-attuale/"Suzuka had features that our car likes and many others that we don't like, but in Singapore there was everything we like and nothing we didn't like. Qatar is a bit of a middle ground," examined the Mercedes DT, explaining a bit this swing of performance, with an unexciting Japanese weekend. At Losail the W14 returned to excellent performance levels, also due to very special conditions linked above all to the new asphalt that made the W14 outperform compared to expectations. Without the incident at the start between the two drivers of the former world champion team, for which Lewis Hamilton took full responsibility, the W14 could have fought on equal terms with the MCL60. Even within the team they believe that the potential seen in the race could have even worried the RB19 of Max Verstappen, the new three-time world champion.
One of the problems that often caused an important limitation of performance was the hopping, from which the W14 still suffers and of which Mercedes "we would like to deprive ourselves of it completely" – said James Allison. "Many teams are still struggling with a bit of bouncing and this can also vary depending on the wind or the condition of wake or not." The new bottom that will debut in Austin will have the task of controlling it better using more appropriate ground heights. The W14 is a car that had been optimized to have its peak performance with rather high ground clearances. "Last year we designed a car that had to exploit heights from the ground too low, this year too high" - said Toto Wolff at the beginning of the season - "Now we think we know what and how to choose". Austin will take a new step forward in that direction, a small step forward for the W14 but which will be much more useful for the 15 W2024.
AR3-GP wrote: ↑10 Oct 2023, 15:29Was bouncing at terminal velocity everywhere at Monza, watch GR onboard to see. Seemed to go through it and sit literally on the floor going down to Parabolica and across the start finish line. They appear to have very extreme narrow band of mitigated set point still with it. Fundamentally flawed right to it's roots.
This is a confusing statement because James Allison returned as technical director at the beginning of the season. So the W14 had no technical director during the season?
Yea maybe he meant nothing specifically for the W14? Or that they've now completely shifted focus to the w15? I don't know, Because like you said the front suspension change would play into the W15, they even wanted to change the rear suspension but couldn't because of the budget cap and then there's the floor they're bringing next week which they said plays into the W15AR3-GP wrote: ↑10 Oct 2023, 20:40This is a confusing statement because James Allison returned as technical director at the beginning of the season. So the W14 had no technical director during the season?
I strongly doubt the way this has been worded. Allison almost certainly had some input on the W14. Everything they have been testing with an eye towards the W15, will have been with his approval. The front suspension change almost certainly came with his blessing.