Mercedes AMG F1 W04 (pre-launch speculation)

[MercAMGF1Fans]

btw... that sharkfin will most likely be making a proper appearance on the w04

[user001]

that is something reported by the media i don't know how many times. but its not true. if he wants to save tyres he does and he proved it on various occasions!

Is that because of himself or something the team did? I know he did like half a race on the hard tire somewhere at the start of the season, that was a really long stint. Wasnt he somewhere further back then? I dont really know, but diff settings etc. etc. can have a pretty decent improvement on tire life. Also the MP4-27 wasnt really hard on it's tires.

...I think Merc would do a smart job and make the car too easy on the tires rather than too hard.

I think it's much easier said than done especially with the problems they had this season, plus Pirelli working "against" the teams in terms of tire life.

It's indeed easier said than doner, but I believe they would do a good job of instead of getting it too hard on the tires is getting it too easy. But that differs from race to race, or even sessions.

i do not know. the car marks the basis the driver by adapting his driving style makes the difference i suppose.

[Nando]

Is that because of himself or something the team did? I know he did like half a race on the hard tire somewhere at the start of the season, that was a really long stint. Wasnt he somewhere further back then? I dont really know, but diff settings etc. etc. can have a pretty decent improvement on tire life. Also the MP4-27 wasnt really hard on it's tires.

Spain brings to mind, only person to run one stop less.
Many times they have run with a rain-map but after the race he said the tires were fine.
Sometimes he even was a little bit pissed because the team pulled him in despite the tires being in good condition.

The Mclaren was pretty hard on the tires in the beginning, it was when they slapped on the new exhaust solution that it got better.

[raymondu999]

I think the early 2012 McLaren was hard on tyres in hot and/or traction-heavy situations, but not really otherwise. A bit heavier on the tyres in Melbourne, possibly due to the traction demands (leading to McLaren running OPP versus Red Bull's OOP) but then only Bahrain and Valencia springs to mind when they were hard on tyres.

[MacX]

Ross

"Twelve months ago we recognised we needed to strengthen the organisation, and we had Aldo Drudi and Geoff Willis joining this summer. We had further additions

Who Aldo Drudi? I know this designer helmet in MotoGP.. But in F1?? And guys do you think mercedes will make a step forward in the aerodynamics car, in 2013, with Mike Elliott ?

[FoxHound]

Probably a typo for Aldo Costa

[Mika1]

Ross

"Twelve months ago we recognised we needed to strengthen the organisation, and we had Aldo Drudi and Geoff Willis joining this summer. We had further additions

Who Aldo Drudi? I know this designer helmet in MotoGP.. But in F1?? And guys do you think mercedes will make a step forward in the aerodynamics car, in 2013, with Mike Elliott ?

I think they will improve, but don't expect a miracle. Hamilton and other Mercedes members said that 2014 is the most important year.

[MacX]

Probably a typo for Aldo Costa

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104814 he said this summer. But maybe It really typo..

[MacX]

guys give the information link, the Aldo costa is chief project w04

[MercAMGF1Fans]

guys give the information link, the Aldo costa is chief project w04

One of our strong points is our technical staff, Aldo Costa is currently working on the 2013 car while Geoff Willis is concentrating on the car for 2014.

http://mercamgf1-fans.com/2012/10/06/wh ... o-in-2013/

[Vasconia]

Lewis iic isnt very great in making sure the tires last, so I think Merc would do a smart job and make the car too easy on the tires rather than too hard.

that is something reported by the media i don't know how many times. but its not true. if he wants to save tyres he does and he proved it on various occasions![/quote]

Its true but Lewis is an agressive driver an if he is gentle with tyres he is not showing his best, so in my opinion he needs a car which takes care of tyres, then he will put the rest.

[marcush.]

guys give the information link, the Aldo costa is chief project w04

One of our strong points is our technical staff, Aldo Costa is currently working on the 2013 car while Geoff Willis is concentrating on the car for 2014.

http://mercamgf1-fans.com/2012/10/06/wh ... o-in-2013/

"Aldo Costa is currently working on the 2013 car while Geoff Willis is concentrating on the car for 2014."

says it pretty much really the 2013 car was in a project phase were Costa needed to concentrate on it whereas 2014s car was in a project phase in need of Willis expertise....

In Dezember 2012 GPInternational Mag Brawn interview he states:
Aldo costa is at the top of the design group,the transmission group and the R&D group.He and Willis report to Bob Bell who is the overall technical director and makes sure that everyone has what they need...

If i reed the interview correctly Willis is a kind of deputy TD sitting above Aero (Mike Elliott),vehicle dynamics and systems .

[yener]

Both Michael and Nico struggled with the tyre eating problem over the last years. So its clearly not on the driver only. I really would love to see Lewis Hamilton in the same W03 as Michael and Nico did and see what he can do.
I think he couldnt save the tyres without slowing down in lap times.

We all can speculate as much as we want, but we have to wait for some news. The car will be nothing like the W03 and i dont think we will see a 7 elements front wing. You just dont need that much extra on the front. Their car hurts at the back. They need more downforce/grip at the rear.

I mentioned earlier but here i go again. McLaren had the fastest car at the last races and did you see their front wing?

http://photos.gpupdate.net/large/213910.jpg

Here is the old front wing

http://photos.gpupdate.net/large/199162.jpg

[Vasconia]

Both Michael and Nico struggled with the tyre eating problem over the last years. So its clearly not on the driver only. I really would love to see Lewis Hamilton in the same W03 as Michael and Nico did and see what he can do.
I think he couldnt save the tyres without slowing down in lap times.

We all can speculate as much as we want, but we have to wait for some news. The car will be nothing like the W03 and i dont think we will see a 7 elements front wing. You just dont need that much extra on the front. Their car hurts at the back. They need more downforce/grip at the rear.

I mentioned earlier but here i go again. McLaren had the fastest car at the last races and did you see their front wing?

http://photos.gpupdate.net/large/213910.jpg

Here is the old front wing

http://photos.gpupdate.net/large/199162.jpg

What Mercedes needs is a well balanced car, fast and balanced. The problem is that in the first half of the season the car was fast but terribly unbalanced, lacking so much downforce. They didn’t solve that problem and what they did was to reduce the front downforce of the car in order to reach a better balance. And obviously they loosed a lot of pace.

[wesley123]

Nope, it wasnt really unbalanced, it was pretty well balanced actually. Problem was that it took a while for the Fornt wing Flow to reattach, so they had a understeering car on corner entry, which then out of a sudden didnt have that problem anymore since the downforce was there again. They then chose to remove the cascades, resulting in a car that was always understeering, but the difference between corner entry and the rest of the corner was reduced, so it increased overall drivability.