Mercedes AMG F1 W03

[siskue2005]

What specific changes should we hope to see on the car at Spa?

Car washed and paint renewed

[diego1960]

I for one would hope to see a new FW, maybe the return of the cascades although altered, and I would really hope that they would alter tha back end of the sidepods to gain better air-flow to the rear, and more downforce. Maybe new suspension geometry too, to proteck the tires better?

[bhall]

So even if it is in grey area of the rules, just look at the pictures I posted...it clearly shows tubing to the tip of nose
There must be something there ....maybe someone like Scarbs could answer my question

The "something" that you see is just the duct work from the nose inlet. That air has to go somewhere, but the rules say it cannot go where you say it goes.

There's a thread for debating the blown wings and DDRS. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12199

This is not a debate. It's a discussion about a specific feature of the car, which is precisely what we've been told ad nauseum is the purpose of the car-specific threads.

[CottrellGP]

Could any one help me, ive noticed that they don't run the upper cascade any more (well they haven't for the last couple of races) why is this? do they not need it? does there car have a front wing which is good enough without it?

[N12ck]

Could any one help me, ive noticed that they don't run the upper cascade any more (well they haven't for the last couple of races) why is this? do they not need it? does there car have a front wing which is good enough without it?

Balance, purely because if you have too much downforce on the rear compared to the front the car will bd unbalanced, and it allows for cleaner airflow to the rear

[CottrellGP]

Could any one help me, ive noticed that they don't run the upper cascade any more (well they haven't for the last couple of races) why is this? do they not need it? does there car have a front wing which is good enough without it?

Balance, purely because if you have too much downforce on the rear compared to the front the car will bd unbalanced, and it allows for cleaner airflow to the rear

I thought it had something to do with balance, they must have a weak rear end.

[zyphro]

Could any one help me, ive noticed that they don't run the upper cascade any more (well they haven't for the last couple of races) why is this? do they not need it? does there car have a front wing which is good enough without it?

Balance, purely because if you have too much downforce on the rear compared to the front the car will bd unbalanced, and it allows for cleaner airflow to the rear

I thought it had something to do with balance, they must have a weak rear end.

Yep they do.

[Adamski]

This is the new FW:




And this was from Canada:




Anyway, it doesn't make the car any better. Rosberg already confirmed in his videoblog that upgrades and new "things" coming for the next race. I don't know what it means, but Brawn already hinted that with a bigger upgrade package you can make a real difference and maybe he is referring to some good news.

Just look at McLaren. At Silverstone Schumi just beat Hamilton. Than McLaren come up with this newly updated car and they changed the world. Hopefully Merc could do something similar.

[zyphro]

Yes, but, McLaren have a proven track record of being able to develop during the season and reduce the defecit.

Once you reach the peak of the curve of performance, it is harder to gain more. Which means it is easier for Merc to catchup, than it is for others to run away at that same speed (as McLaren showed). Brawn hinted at upgrades that should bring 0.5sec to MGP, we'll just have to wait and see .

[marcush.]

brawn stated weeks ago the theme is tyre understanding not upgrades .so forget it .They have dreamed 4 or 6 weeks thinking the car was competitive enough to make it till the end of season .they completely misunderstood the situation and face now a horde of cars hacving clearly cranked up two or more notches.
This was just masked by the last races ,when nobody had a optimised car at the start due to the lousy conditions.

I ´m especially amused by the rumour about the new engine map clarification which does effectively prevent Mercedes and Lotus develop a coanda exhaust solution as the maps to choose from must be one of the first 4 races..... =D> =D> =D>

at least they can get some consolation from Kimis and grosjeans performances -one does not need coanda exhausts to be challenging for wins ...but the car needs to be black ...It would not be the first time in history that scraping off the colour brought winning competitiveness ...this time from silver to black..

[Neno]

brawn stated weeks ago the theme is tyre understanding not upgrades .so forget it .They have dreamed 4 or 6 weeks thinking the car was competitive enough to make it till the end of season .they completely misunderstood the situation and face now a horde of cars hacving clearly cranked up two or more notches.
This was just masked by the last races ,when nobody had a optimised car at the start due to the lousy conditions.

I ´m especially amused by the rumour about the new engine map clarification which does effectively prevent Mercedes and Lotus develop a coanda exhaust solution as the maps to choose from must be one of the first 4 races..... =D> =D> =D>

bad for mercedes is that Lotus dose not need devolop a coanda exhaust solution to be fast. Lotus has made ​​it clear to everyone that the exhaust systems this year are unimportant, and their development and performance are a waste of time. As for the engine maps the only team that dealt with this development is that which is accused for cheating, the Red Bull.

Understanding the tire is very important this season, and if Mercedes after half a season remembered that this is important, they rightly belong to the middle class teams ( where they are now).

[Huntresa]

DDRS banned for 2013! http://totalf1.com/full_story/view/4253 ... _for_2013/

[marcush.]

just because you have tyre problems is not necessarily a hint at you have a lack of understanding of the tyres -compared to others-and more importantly -better understanding of the tyre would help your speed or endurance of them tyres.
Some things cannot be changed ,or changed enough... the tyres as a pirelli SPEC product are not really under the teams control ..so i think it´s not the best idea to start concentrating on tyres too much.
Mercedes in fact has already struggled with "Understanding" the tyres back in the days of brawn...and it does not look like all the effort put in mastering the tyres -different tyres ,remember-has paid any dividents as of yet.
Coming back to the car -it obviously has no strength compared to the four teams in front ...it has lost its qualy advantage ,is not specifically strong in any kind of corner and is not blindingly quick on the straights either....looks like all the effort invested into achieving balance -and tyre life -(understanding of tyres ) has cost them in terms of absolute speed enough to throw them back speedwise where they were in 2011 and 201o...

[Joie de vivre]

DDRS banned for 2013! http://totalf1.com/full_story/view/4253 ... _for_2013/

doesn't matter, they have no advantage from it.

[turbof1]

DDRS banned for 2013! http://totalf1.com/full_story/view/4253 ... _for_2013/

doesn't matter, they have no advantage from it.

I don't think that is true. If they don't they would remove the tubes from inside of the rear wing endplates to cut drag; surely they gain something from it. On the next 2 circuits it could profe VERY usefull.