Mercedes GP MGP W01

[marcush.]

Has i said on that time, mercedes knew they were in trouble since they started using flow vision paint, on that time people said it mean't nothing, that it was just to compare wind tunnel results, well, the results are clear to everyone. I still hope they can find some downforce and manage their weight distribution to european races and start fighting for top positions.

Incredibly after al those miles they still seem to find speed in the car without major upgrades to the ppackage and still with some issues yet to solve it does not look impossible.
looking at the wings it does not look like they could find alot there ..apart from a chunk of top speed if they get the rear f-wing working....

[dren]

I expect Mercedes to win races this year, but I don't expect them to win the championship, although anything can happen. It is going to be a close season by the looks of things.

The car itself has improved with little changes. I wonder if they will have the F-duct ready by the European races. I would expect that to put them ahead of Mclaren.

[ArchAngel]

From GPUpdate.net:

Rosberg optimistic over Sepang updates
30 March 2010

Nico Rosberg is confident that new additions to the Mercedes MGP W01 should help to move the team further up the points positions as the third round of the 2010 season takes place in Malaysia this weekend. The former Williams driver is currently the leading representative of the German team.

Rosberg has 20 points to his name at present, courtesy of a couple of fifth place finishes from the first two races, and has comfortably out-paced 7-time World Champion team-mate Michael Schumacher so far in the campaign. Heading to Sepang, optimism remains for the son of 1982 title winner Keke...

<< Full article here >>

Wonder what these 'updates' are and how much improvement they will bring? Nothing 'mega', I expect. Sadly, I still can't see them gaining major improvements enough to vault the W01 at/near the top 'til they get back to Europe.

[raymondu999]

They said that the w01 would be almost a completely new car by melbourne. Didn't happen did it?

[bonjon1979]

I expect Mercedes to win races this year, but I don't expect them to win the championship, although anything can happen. It is going to be a close season by the looks of things.

The car itself has improved with little changes. I wonder if they will have the F-duct ready by the European races. I would expect that to put them ahead of Mclaren.

I'm not so sure. It seems that the F-duct is a tricky piece of kit to perfect. If they are using fluidics to switch the direction of the flow as some have suggested then it will take a lot of fine tuning - which they are unable to do in the wind tunnel because the wind speed isn't great enough (limited to 50m/s). But straight line speed is very important and this device seems to be giving mac an edge at the moment which means the others have to divert resources into working up a solution. Since development resources are finite, you would say that other areas will suffer and because Mclaren are already ahead of the game you would expect them to be able to be able to focus on other areas, such as a ride height adjuster to keep ahead. However, I'll be interested to see what everyone brings to Barcelona - I think that's when we'll see cars making a big step and you can never count out Ross Brawn.

[segedunum]

They've got the F-duct development on the one hand and ride height adjustment development on the other. They have a lot of catching up to do.

Unless we know what game-changing updates Mercedes have managed to put on the car in a week then it's all hot air.

[Hangaku]

I suspect that of the two areas that need development, the ride height system would be easier (see: still not easy) to develop, and have a bigger and more immediate impact than the F-Duct? Taking into account that testing the F-Duct system at different circuits would yield much less normalized data, thus being less easy to gauge it's effectiveness.

I would be interested to know what anyone else thinks about that.

[PlatinumZealot]

The ride height system i would not put too much resources into it. YET. It's just too much guesswork. Imagine a mechanical system that when you remove weight for qualifying the car ride height stays the same!... then it some how resets (ie "raise" the car back up when you add fuel the next day.

I am not too sure about it. I have been trying to figure it out for some time now. It's hard to imagine a passive system that does that. But yeah, I would focus mostly on getting the basic car up to the level of ferrari and redbull. And maybe a small team for the F duct. That's just me though.

[RacingManiac]

IMO if the ride height system is there(and in used in the likes of RBR), its a much bigger advantage to gain than F-Duct. If you can maintain your rideheight without being affected by fuel weight, you get better aero performance throughout and gains in quali pace and race pace is invaluable...

[JohnsonEvilTwin]

The ride height system is definately not on the Mercedes.
Its running far to stiff to have that. The stiffness is a direct byproduct of Mercedes trying to "tie down" the car at low and medium speed corners.

The ride height system as used by red bull allows a far more supple suspension setting in turn allowing greater traction.

Alot of Mercedes issues would be helped by the system, wether they can get it working quickly enough is another matter.

As for the F-duct, Its a far more complex system. From all the respected sources i have read, it appears the maximum wind tunnel speeds are around 50mph which does not give the full picture of what is happening in and around the cockpit and "stalled wing" area while at speed(the actual scientific name escapes). Its this issue that hinders progress on any aspiring F-duct users.

[autogyro]

You sure it is not more because the data is not conveniently in their CFD Data bases and they did not cover the subject enough at Uni?

[Morteza]

Hi guys, take a look at this picture from today's Petronas Event at Kuala Lumpur. It's MGP W01 but with a different nose! Sth like BGP 001's nose.

[marcush.]

Hi guys, take a look at this picture from today's Petronas Event at Kuala Lumpur. It's MGP W01 but with a different nose! Sth like BGP 001's nose.

of course its a BRAWN in Mercedes livery,mate.. just look at the airscoop...sorry.

[Morteza]

Hi guys, take a look at this picture from today's Petronas Event at Kuala Lumpur. It's MGP W01 but with a different nose! Sth like BGP 001's nose.

of course its a BRAWN in Mercedes livery,mate.. just look at the airscoop...sorry.

Oh! I should have guessed that, Sorry folks

[marcush.]

the front wing is nothing they raced last year ,but they ran in practise..if i rememeber correctly , the flap actuation is still 2009...this year a thin rod is visible in front of the flap adjuster ,so i guess they no have a central actuator between the wing stays ,replacing the two actuators they had in last year .