Mercedes AMG F1 W04 (pre-launch speculation)

[wesley123]

What do you think, seriosly about W04? Cand it be a car with which Lewis can secure a place on the front-row in Melbourne?

Don't aim for that, I think that a decent goal is to be fourth fastest over the season. They started their season great last year, but felt back a lot of places, they need to maintain their position over the course of the season.

After all top-teams using pull-rod suspension

I'd asume you're talking about the rear suspension here.

I think that Mercedes is not so back on the foot.

They are, Merc is the only team (and Toro Rosso too) that do not have a solid base from previous years. Every other team has a solid foundation on which they can build in, Merc is starting pretty much from scratch.

If they get sorted their Coanda exhaust they should be in the fight.

The coanda exhaust is a very valuable system and they should run it from day one, not add it later on.

And what do you think about that Mercedes found 1.5 seconds before Christmas? It is that possible?

That is your regular winterstop talk, nothing special here.

Another question is that if their ultra-compacted gearbox cand make such a huge advantage for the rear of the car?

Are they running that or is it just a rumor?

But the most important question is about their wind tunnel... I read that Ferrari's problems has the origin in the moment they upgraded the wind tunnel changing from 50% scale to 60%... Can it be the case for Mercedes? After they changed the scale, did the wind tunnel gave advantages?

Sure, an upgrade can always go wrong. They went wrong with their windtunnel in 2007.
The gains are a larger scale, 60% scale is closer to full scale than 50% so the results would be closer to reality.

Thanks. Do you think that as all front teams going for pull-rod suspension and practically changing all the mechanichs and aerodynamics in the front of the car, will mean a relative equal chance for the teams in starting a new chapter?

How are you so sure the rest of the teams will run front pull rods?

[NewtonMeter]

For the benefit of mclaren_mircea, I'm reposting this. I trust that MercAMGF1Fans wont mind.

About the 60% model issue..

check this video out.. at 10min in Ross explains about why there was the midseason slump
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1Afws ... XZwb2gtQkk

Pirelli were focussing on providing 60% model tyres.. and they had to bite the bullet and do the upgrade.

[godlameroso]

Not true about the 60% model, well not always. Remember even in the best wind tunnel with 100% scale models, there are variables that you simply cannot account for. Not to mention that wind tunnels don't lend themselves to testing consistency during yaw moments, and that's precisely where aero is most important. Cars going in a straight line don't benefit from downforce except under braking. In the twisty stuff is where aero is most important, you could have killer downforce, but you can shed 40% of it while turning if your system isn't well designed.

[mclaren_mircea]

@MercAMGF1Fans

Where did you red that Hartley said that the car "was much better" compared with W03?

I read on his facebook a comment where he was just saying that was "a positive day" (testing it in the simulator)
I'm afraid that it's a bit pessimistic

[MercAMGF1Fans]

@MercAMGF1Fans

Where did you red that Hartley said that the car "was much better" compared with W03?

I read on his facebook a comment where he was just saying that was "a positive day" (testing it in the simulator)
I'm afraid that it's a bit pessimistic

He deleted his comment reply to me. (Abdurrazzaq)

[mclaren_mircea]

@MercAMGF1Fans

Thanks

[MercAMGF1Fans]

Here's the screenshot from earlier

[wesley123]

It's a great addition to the topic, but words like these do not mean anything. Would be weird if Hartley went saying that the car is crap and not as expected.

[PlatinumZealot]

Reeaally good, worked out to be good last year too...at least for the first 6 races.

[mclaren_mircea]

@ wesley 123

Don't be rude. I'm telling this to you with my honest intention, not to anger or to disregard you.
The guy just answered to a a question of mine about the impressions of the test driver about the W04.
It's possible that W04 to be a good car, how much, we will see. Remind Martin Whitmarsh when telling "the next year car is much faster then this year car" (by december 2010, and mp4-26 was a mess), or how ridiculous is every year Domenicalli telling us how good the car is (before testing) compared with what they had the previous year.

[mclaren_mircea]

sorry... the message was for @n smikle not for @wesley 123
I made a mistake... sorry again wesley 123

[raymondu999]

Remind Martin Whitmarsh when telling "the next year car is much faster then this year car" (by december 2010, and mp4-26 was a mess), or how ridiculous is every year Domenicalli telling us how good the car is (before testing) compared with what they had the previous year.

Yes - and unfortunately some people will think that that's what's happening with the W04.

No team boss would ever tell the world before the launch, "Our car is ----slow"

[yener]

i'm a little bit worried about the new gearbox. It's going to be smaller and more complex one. Last year the gearbox failed more then once at both teams using the Mercedes GB.
And then their is the interlinked suspension which connects front and rear. Aldo is partly responsible for that one, so the argument Aldo will fix that is not a good one in my eyes.

If they don't mess up the windtunnel calibration and all the fetched data will get correctly on the car we will see a championship contender next year. They have everything at house right now. They have one of the best drivers, they have updated to the 60% scale windtunnel and they have solved the problem to bring updates faster.

The 60% scale windtunnel will give them a great advantage and they will be able to see some especially around the rear. So we will see an improved difuser.
I am also positive they will redesign the rear wing. Tiny changes which will have a great effect.
Then the their will be new designed sidepods which will fit the coanda exhaust and not to forget a cleaner floor because they will have a bit more space because they will have a tiny GB.

So the w04 is going to be all different at the rear. Getting to the front. I'm curious to see which front wing they are going to run. And believe me or not if the FIA allows the bending nosecoine and Ross Brawn isn't complaining it just means he is going to copy that and bend the sh!t out of the w04.

Let's wait and see!

[wesley123]

i'm a little bit worried about the new gearbox. It's going to be smaller and more complex one.

Where are the facts of that being the case?

Last year the gearbox failed more then once at both teams using the Mercedes GB.

What is the other team using the merc gearbox?

And then their is the interlinked suspension which connects front and rear. Aldo is partly responsible for that one, so the argument Aldo will fix that is not a good one in my eyes.

Then someone else will fix it.

If they don't mess up the windtunnel calibration and all the fetched data will get correctly on the car we will see a championship contender next year. They have everything at house right now.

Just like last year, and the year before. They wont be championship contenders next year, and anyone in or outside of the team who puts that as a goal should come back to earth. A championship contender is not gonna happen.

The 60% scale windtunnel will give them a great advantage

Nope, since pretty much every other team has a similar scale, so rather a deficit removed than an advantage.

and they will be able to see some especially around the rear. So we will see an improved difuser.

Why would that have a better effect on the rear than the front?

So the w04 is going to be all different at the rear.

Only rumors

And believe me or not if the FIA allows the bending nosecoine and Ross Brawn isn't complaining it just means he is going to copy that and bend the sh!t out of the w04.

No reason to think why this team would be able to flex their stuff an equal amount (or more) as red bull.

[Mika1]

Rumour has it they will try to copy RBR as much as possible (coanda solution, rbr style sidepods).