Mercedes W17

A place to discuss the characteristics of the cars in Formula One, both current as well as historical. Laptimes, driver worshipping and team chatter do not belong here.
gromajor
gromajor
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Joined: 05 Mar 2023, 10:30

Re: Mercedes W17

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the principles of the aerodynamics on the rear is completely different from the red bull.
both of them are very tight.
but that's reminiscent of their cars philosophies before 2022 :
=> the mercedes with long side pods guiding the air quite horizontally towards the rear
=> the red bull with short side pods pulling the air downwards towards the rear

I must say also the step after the side pods inlets (which looks strange / not fluid enough to me, but I'm no aerodynamicist) makes me wonder if this car would not be again a temporary car for the beginning of the tests.

HungarianRacer
HungarianRacer
36
Joined: 25 Jun 2019, 12:26

Re: Mercedes W17

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Mercedes is in LOVE with that airbox geometry. Introduced in 2016, 10 years ago (W07), Virtually unchanged since 2018 (W09)...

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Badger
Badger
12
Joined: 22 Sep 2025, 17:00

Re: Mercedes W17

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The sidepod is sculpted on top but the packaging and cooling seems rather conventional overall. Nothing as exciting as the zeropod put it that way. Push rod on both axles, no anti-dive. Remains to be seen if this is the real deal or just bait. Probably a mix of both.

FNTC
FNTC
13
Joined: 03 Nov 2023, 21:27

Re: Mercedes W17

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Sidepods look different than the others so far, as they go up towards the back and end at the exhaust, while other cars so far have them going down to the floor at the back.
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vorticism
vorticism
377
Joined: 01 Mar 2022, 20:20
Location: YooEssay

Re: Mercedes W17

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Double pushrod again. Very shallow angle on the rear pushrod versus the front.
Last edited by vorticism on 22 Jan 2026, 13:05, edited 1 time in total.
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wiktor977
wiktor977
33
Joined: 27 Jan 2024, 17:33

Re: Mercedes W17

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FNTC wrote:
22 Jan 2026, 12:41
Sidepods look different than the others so far, as they go up towards the back and end at the exhaust, while other cars so far have them going down to the floor at the back.
https://img.lightshot.app/Z2-HZU79R8yUoNH6D5LIcw.png
Which makes more sense since there is no beam wing like before, and you open more space for clean aiflow to go towards the top of the diffuser

HungarianRacer
HungarianRacer
36
Joined: 25 Jun 2019, 12:26

Re: Mercedes W17

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By the way, in one render we see a front wing endplate with a small upwashing winglet, then it's a massive downwasing one in the next... Yeah, in my view, these images are about as credible as the first batch pictures we got of the W13 back in 2022...

Image

Image

A quick reminder:

Image
Last edited by HungarianRacer on 22 Jan 2026, 13:24, edited 1 time in total.

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Stu
Moderator
Joined: 02 Nov 2019, 10:05
Location: Norfolk, UK

Re: Mercedes W17

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wiktor977 wrote:
22 Jan 2026, 12:23
https://i.postimg.cc/ZYrc0FPS/Mercedes-tyre-sensor.jpg

That's a pretty extraordinary place to put the tyre temperature sensor
Maybe, but the FW endplate/footplate detail inboard is interesting.
Perspective - Understanding that sometimes the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

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Stu
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Joined: 02 Nov 2019, 10:05
Location: Norfolk, UK

Re: Mercedes W17

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HungarianRacer wrote:
22 Jan 2026, 13:06
By the way, in one render we see a front wing endplate with a small upwashing winglet, then it's a massive downwasing one in the next... Yeah, in my view, these images are about as credible as the first batch pictures we got of the W13 back in 2022...

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

https://i.imgur.com/WkiehcE.jpeg

A quick reminder:

https://cdn-4.motorsport.com/images/amp ... 022-2.webp
Imgur images not working for UK users, but in the ones that I can see the endplate canard is very twisted across its length, downwash at the endplate, upwash at the free end.
I can see some logic to that.
Perspective - Understanding that sometimes the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

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yinlad
42
Joined: 08 Nov 2019, 20:10

Re: Mercedes W17

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HungarianRacer wrote:
22 Jan 2026, 13:06
By the way, in one render we see a front wing endplate with a small upwashing winglet, then it's a massive downwasing one in the next... Yeah, in my view, these images are about as credible as the first batch pictures we got of the W13 back in 2022...

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

https://i.imgur.com/WkiehcE.jpeg

A quick reminder:

https://cdn-4.motorsport.com/images/amp ... 022-2.webp
It’s the same. It tapers towards the end plate face which is why it appears to downwash in the second image.
MVRC - Panthera

HungarianRacer
HungarianRacer
36
Joined: 25 Jun 2019, 12:26

Re: Mercedes W17

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Stu wrote:
22 Jan 2026, 13:20

Imgur images not working for UK users, but in the ones that I can see the endplate canard is very twisted across its length, downwash at the endplate, upwash at the free end.
I can see some logic to that.
Sorry, didn't know that, fixed!

yinlad wrote:
22 Jan 2026, 13:22

It’s the same. It tapers towards the end plate face which is why it appears to downwash in the second image.
I think you are both right.
We'll soon see how much truth is in these images anyways.

ma9mwah
ma9mwah
0
Joined: 28 Feb 2017, 12:35

Re: Mercedes W17

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HungarianRacer wrote:
22 Jan 2026, 13:36
Stu wrote:
22 Jan 2026, 13:20

Imgur images not working for UK users, but in the ones that I can see the endplate canard is very twisted across its length, downwash at the endplate, upwash at the free end.
I can see some logic to that.
Sorry, didn't know that, fixed!
For any UK users like myself, there are multiple plugins for all the major browsers that will proxy the imgur images to another host so that you can see them.

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FW17
173
Joined: 06 Jan 2010, 10:56

Re: Mercedes W17

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HungarianRacer wrote:
22 Jan 2026, 13:06


Image
Could be having one of these underneath

Image

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AR3-GP
404
Joined: 06 Jul 2021, 01:22

Re: Mercedes W17

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W15 sidepod inlet
W14 sidepod
No front brake duct
Primordial front wing

This is a livery launch.
Last edited by AR3-GP on 22 Jan 2026, 14:54, edited 1 time in total.
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Luscion
Luscion
124
Joined: 13 Feb 2023, 01:37

Re: Mercedes W17

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Sidepods look similar to the render

Image

14mins of it being filmed from a drone