Mercedes W17

[dren]

These are some crazy large gaps in the diffuser.
I can’t believe the ruleset allows such large openings in y/z direction.

Obviously from the side profile the diffuser will look closed but from the front these are substantial.

@aero experts: are they refeeding with more air to stop it from stalling?

There's an area there that allows for an opening in the regulation boxes.

[AR3-GP]

are they refeeding with more air to stop it from stalling?

not an aero expert but I'd reframe the question. They haven't designed a diffuser that is stalling and therefore needs a hole. They designed the diffuser around being able to have the hole.

[wowgr8]

Why the renders show something different can only be speculation - doesn’t seem worthwhile to intentionally try to mislead (the other teams will have seen the shakedown, same as us), so maybe this is just an earlier (or perhaps later?) version of what they’ve been trying in the simulator.

I think what all the teams are doing with the renders is showing an older version of the car

[deadhead]

https://x.com/robertofunoat/status/2014 ... 71344?s=20

[deadhead]

[ME4ME]

Car is a stunner. Looks sleek and refined.

I didn't and still don't expect major surprises from the top teams. I don't think the regulations allow for something shocking. I think it will mostly be about details and refinement, and will be hard for us to judge visually. It'll be about the numbers. So I don't think the lack of something exciting about this car is anything negative.

[Jozsusz]

Love the MP4-20 vibe of the nose.

[FNTC]

The large holes in the diffuser seems pretty shocking

[Emag]

Car is a stunner. Looks sleek and refined.

I didn't and still don't expect major surprises from the top teams. I don't think the regulations allow for something shocking. I think it will mostly be about details and refinement, and will be hard for us to judge visually. It'll be about the numbers. So I don't think the lack of something exciting about this car is anything negative.

At the moment, other than the car looking quite refined already, this diffuser hole is very intriguing.

Edit: I actually saw it when I made the post earlier, but I thought it was some sort of a video artifact because it's huge.

From this angle you can see how big that hole is.



A couple of frames later in the video :

[Vappy]

Those are some lovely looking side pods

[AR3-GP]

That slotted diffuser is a big deal. Write off any team that doesn't have it.

[Vappy]

Do we have any historical examples of a hole in the diffuser that large being used to good effect? I feel like i've seen it in racing cars generally, but don't have the knowledge of where in formula one.

[Lasssept]

[edgelo]

The render is interesting because it didn’t show a downwash side pod - The Race even wrote about this being a point of differentiation for Mercedes, based on what they saw on the renders. We can see by what’s on track though that, even if it’s much more tightly packaged than last year, they clearly do still have a downwash side pod, same as all the other cars this year.

Why the renders show something different can only be speculation - doesn’t seem worthwhile to intentionally try to mislead (the other teams will have seen the shakedown, same as us), so maybe this is just an earlier (or perhaps later?) version of what they’ve been trying in the simulator.

I won’t say it’s a proper downwash sidepod since the slope don’t meet the floor. Otherwise, it goes into the suspension root, and there is a big and continuous channel under the sidepod that seems to feed the mouse hole and the diffuser top.

[sucof]

Yes, this sidepod shape is quite likely was created to use that diffuser hole well.
If this is truly effective, I wonder how difficult will be for the other teams to copy it. At the moment I do not see why other could not copy it in a few months...
In this case, I wonder why did Mercedes show it to everyone this early?? There is a lot of time till the first race and every team is focusing to do quick changes at the moment...