Mercedes GP MGP W01

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

So , there are many ways in which the car could be improved, it is just that the current designers seem to not to be up to the job required.

Gilgen

My only reservation with your post is that all those modifications you mention would have been tried already had it been possible.
Brawn would not be fiddling around with an F-duct if the mods could make the car more slippery through the air. These modifications may also not be possible, or could make matters worse.

Regards the tyres, Brawn freely admits everyone got the same info. They just got it wrong. Is that so bad to admit?

[aral]

So , there are many ways in which the car could be improved, it is just that the current designers seem to not to be up to the job required.

Gilgen

My only reservation with your post is that all those modifications you mention would have been tried already had it been possible.
Brawn would not be fiddling around with an F-duct if the mods could make the car more slippery through the air. These modifications may also not be possible, or could make matters worse.

Regards the tyres, Brawn freely admits everyone got the same info. They just got it wrong. Is that so bad to admit?

Ah yes! But didn't you say that the tyres "NEVER CAME"! They did! And why is it that other teams have been able to improve their cars rapidly!

[autogyro]

Fexible front wing would sort their problem.

[aral]

Fexible front wing would sort their problem.

And a new driver! The car is actually not too bad, as evidenced by Rosberg, who is not really a top-line driver.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Fexible front wing would sort their problem.

Gyro you think so? how much would it be worth and how exactly would it solve Mercedes problems?

gilgen,
They wanted a certain tyre they thought, according to their calculations, would arrive. It didnt....And Schumacher is a pretty decent driver. Why not lay off the guy and judge him next year?

[747heavy]

@ JET

maybe you like this one.
It explains the additional slot used with the F-Duct/blown wing concept a bit better.

Enjoy

[PlatinumZealot]

thanks Marcus, to

Sorry I don´t follow F1 that closely and don´t read the rules 3x a day
but what the minimum weight (dry) last year?

I did not know, that they banned some materials from 2009 to 2010 and that they limited upights and calipers. The larger fuel tank makes sense, yes, but this weight is more or less at CoG, and the same for everyone. I would have thought that getting rid off KERS would have free´d up some weight to account for the extra weight fom the fuel tank etc.
IMHO

Thanks again

Space to place the ballast could also be the major problem. The car might be very underweight and there is still no place to put ballast. For example: you only have space to put ballast at the front, you can't put it at the rear because of the engine oil pan, and gearbox and the sidepod undercut. So most of the space to move the ballast in a wide range is mostly at the front.

[marcush.]

the specific weight of tungsten is 19,3g/cm³ so 1 kg of ballast has a volume of not even 52 cm³ ,thats a piece of 5x5x2mm ... you say ,you won´t find a space for that?
these guys are supposed to be the best in engineering and they struggle to place ballast ,or better yet ,THEY forgot to think of the possibility they may need to position ballast at the rear???? Then they deserve to be in the trauble they currently face...

[czt]

Fexible front wing would sort their problem.

And a new driver! The car is actually not too bad, as evidenced by Rosberg, who is not really a top-line driver.

I don't think you can judge whether Rosberg is a top-line driver yet - he's never had the machinery to show it. Take Button for example, who similarly was in mediocre cars for most of his career - one good car with Brawn and he is champion (As an aside, it is only this year that he has convinced me he is right up there with his performances against Lewis in the same car)

[aral]

Fexible front wing would sort their problem.

And a new driver! The car is actually not too bad, as evidenced by Rosberg, who is not really a top-line driver.

I don't think you can judge whether Rosberg is a top-line driver yet - he's never had the machinery to show it. Take Button for example, who similarly was in mediocre cars for most of his career - one good car with Brawn and he is champion (As an aside, it is only this year that he has convinced me he is right up there with his performances against Lewis in the same car)

Of course Nico can improve, but he is, at this date, not considered to be top-line. Maybe if he was in a RBR or Ferrari, we could see what he is really like, and maybe he is driving the Merc way above its capabilities?

[kalinka]

the specific weight of tungsten is 19,3g/cm³ so 1 kg of ballast has a volume of not even 52 cm³ ,thats a piece of 5x5x2mm ... you say ,you won´t find a space for that?
these guys are supposed to be the best in engineering and they struggle to place ballast ,or better yet ,THEY forgot to think of the possibility they may need to position ballast at the rear???? Then they deserve to be in the trauble they currently face...

I agree, but you miscalculated it. It's 5x5x2cm and not millimeter ! Anyway, that's not much of a space either....

[marcush.]

the specific weight of tungsten is 19,3g/cm³ so 1 kg of ballast has a volume of not even 52 cm³ ,thats a piece of 5x5x2mm ... you say ,you won´t find a space for that?
these guys are supposed to be the best in engineering and they struggle to place ballast ,or better yet ,THEY forgot to think of the possibility they may need to position ballast at the rear???? Then they deserve to be in the trauble they currently face...

I agree, but you miscalculated it. It's 5x5x2cm and not millimeter ! Anyway, that's not much of a space either....

err that was of course a typo ..as 5x5x2 mm is only 52mm³ but of course yes its cm ...

also one really interesting bit about cars being underweight:it was rumoured that Renaults R29 was as much as 60kgs underweight ...to allow for the implementaion of KERS.And they struggled immensely with stiffness issues in all areas of the car because of them having to redefine targets to achieve that goal...
Bearing in mind the previous statements from Mercedes ...it leaves us as puzzled as before ...because even if they had not as much as 60 but surely more than 8 to play with ,why should it be impossible to transfer weight to the rear?

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Do you think Mercedes GP have been using the W01 as a test bed for the return of KERS in 2011? with compromised weight distribution?

[aral]

Do you think Mercedes GP have been using the W01 as a test bed for the return of KERS in 2011? with compromised weight distribution?

No. If that was their plan, why would they have been claiming that they would be fighting for the championship, knowing they had a compromised car? Even if it was the case, moving the ballast around would have solved the weigh distribution "problem" and they would have had more room to re site some ancilliaries to also move weight around. The engine is powerful, but the mechanical grip is just not there. Suspension layout would be the most likely source of poor mechanical grip.

[marcush.]

we are likely to dwell on forever...or at least till start of 2011season with this.

to me the claim of a compromised weight distribution is still not explained considering they claimed their weight bias was to be moved to the back i see no reason why this would not be possible especially in the light of their urgent need of coming up with results.

Assuming they had less than 50 but more than 10 kilos to play with I wonder what sort of weight distribution they dream of and how far away they could possibly be at this time.

The suspension theme i do not buy either...what could that be that could not be changed? their suspension does not look dramatically different to other competitors
so if your away a few degrees on some characteristics i see no reason why it should be impossible to correct this in the light of only the pickup points of the front suspension+ steering being homologated so not changeable.
The dampers ...i believe they still use showa? well a switch to oehlins would have been a smart move.