Mercedes W17

[FNTC]

I was noticing that all weekend, the Merc front wing was closing at different speeds depending on the corner, and that at it's slowest, it was closing in about 800ms, twice what the rules allow. This gif is slowed 4x and lines-up two corners on Russell's car where the wing closes much faster and much slower.

reddit

How is that not an instant DQ if true? Surely FIA should have access to cameras and look at opening and closing times and if they break the technical regs?

[john downforce]

https://i.postimg.cc/mkvS6vSm/8m56c0b2yapg1.gif

I was noticing that all weekend, the Merc front wing was closing at different speeds depending on the corner, and that at it's slowest, it was closing in about 800ms, twice what the rules allow. This gif is slowed 4x and lines-up two corners on Russell's car where the wing closes much faster and much slower.

reddit

This doesn't seem desirable. Why would you want less front downforce while braking?
Probably a malfunction. Was it the same in the race as well?

the cars spark most when the active aero comes back, with this slow return you can reduce plank wear and therefore run a lower static front ride height (or soften front suspension). you also prevent the endplates making ground contact during the transient by returning the load gradually (you can see on some cars sparks from the endplates at the start of big braking zones), which will give you improved aero performance towards the end of races through lessened aero wear. you may notice from the gif that the slow return only occurs at the end of the main straight into the hairpin, the biggest braking zone on the track, where the most ground contact occurs.

unless they have found some loophole which allows the transition time to exceed 400ms, this is not legal maybe an automated system is adjusting the transition profile based on the braking zone to minimise plank wear (there is nothing in the rules to suggest that the transitions must be consistent, only that they must happen between the same two static positions), and a hard cap of 400ms was not coded in (properly). I doubt anything will be done about this, but maybe from the next race we will no longer see these transition times, which will be the indicator that mercedes realised they messed up.

[SB15]

I was noticing that all weekend, the Merc front wing was closing at different speeds depending on the corner, and that at it's slowest, it was closing in about 800ms, twice what the rules allow. This gif is slowed 4x and lines-up two corners on Russell's car where the wing closes much faster and much slower.

reddit

How is that not an instant DQ if true? Surely FIA should have access to cameras and look at opening and closing times and if they break the technical regs?

"If" But Russell did report that he was having troubles with his front wing. Antonelli's is what the front wing is what it's suppose to do. So let's not jump to the "illegal" allegations yet.

[john downforce]

reddit

How is that not an instant DQ if true? Surely FIA should have access to cameras and look at opening and closing times and if they break the technical regs?

"If" But Russell did report that he was having troubles with his front wing. Antonelli's is what the front wing is what it's suppose to do. So let's not jump to the "illegal" allegations yet.

Antonelli's car does it too at 5:22 in the sprint qualifying highlights

[vorticism]

https://i.postimg.cc/mkvS6vSm/8m56c0b2yapg1.gif

I was noticing that all weekend, the Merc front wing was closing at different speeds depending on the corner, and that at it's slowest, it was closing in about 800ms, twice what the rules allow. This gif is slowed 4x and lines-up two corners on Russell's car where the wing closes much faster and much slower.

reddit

Wasn't their front wing system broken? Russell had one completely fail in Q2 I think, so might be reliability related rather than some sort of variable movement speed?

Telemetry from the actuator controls might be tied in with the ECU and therefor visible to the FIA. The white target dots on the flaps front and rear would be another way the measure duration.

[LM10]

How is that not an instant DQ if true? Surely FIA should have access to cameras and look at opening and closing times and if they break the technical regs?

"If" But Russell did report that he was having troubles with his front wing. Antonelli's is what the front wing is what it's suppose to do. So let's not jump to the "illegal" allegations yet.

Antonelli's car does it too at 5:22 in the sprint qualifying highlights

Well spotted. Very clearly visible.

Is this legal?

[vorticism]

Likely accommodated by in-situ exceptions regarding damage and durability. If a bargeboard or front wing endplate is damaged, still they are allowed to race, despite the part no longer being geometrically legal. I can't imagine a slow FWAS helps them. You'd want to maximize both the low DF and high DF durations. Was a wonky DRS actuator ever a cause for DSQ mid-race?

[Gridlock]

Could they be playing with the definition of the "physical stop" somehow? (emphasis added), such that the 400ms rule applies to only part of the transition?

n. when commanded, switch to one of two fixed positions defined as follows:
i. a “Corner Mode” position, that conforms to a position defined in (k) and that remains
identical following any Straight-Line Mode operation to its position beforehand.
ii. a “Straight-Line Mode” position that, when compared to the Corner Mode position,
results in a decrease in incidence of FW Primary Flap and/or FW Secondary Flap.
Furthermore, except when limited by a physical stop defined in (u), the magnitude of
decrease must remain constant.
o. have a maximum transition time between the two fixed positions that does not exceed 400ms.
...
u. Physical Stops must be provided to prevent both FW Primary Flap and FW Secondary Flap from
being rotated external to RV-FW-PROFILES.