Mercedes AMG F1 W04

[Ferraripilot]

W04s dip in the floor under the venting tunnel remains a real head-scratcher......

Agreed. I don't understand what that's about. The only thing I can think it would do is generate a low pressure zone... just in front of the beam wing. But then, armchair aerodynamicists are well known to be wrong 99.999% of the time, I'd love to see someone make a CFD model of it and see if we can vaguely understand what it does.

that's precisely what I edited my post to reflect lol.

inverted deep camber mini pocket prior to the diffuser.

[bonjon1979]

W04s dip in the floor under the venting tunnel remains a real head-scratcher......

Agreed. I don't understand what that's about. The only thing I can think it would do is generate a low pressure zone... just in front of the beam wing. But then, armchair aerodynamicists are well known to be wrong 99.999% of the time, I'd love to see someone make a CFD model of it and see if we can vaguely understand what it does.

that's precisely what I edited my post to reflect lol.

inverted deep camber mini pocket prior to the diffuser.

This season's most have, the i.d.c.m.p.p.t.t.d

[dominaze]

it's hard to say something about this car. Having viewed it from different angles, especially these coanda-sidepods, it looks like there's some sort of lack of continuum. I hope this is not their final iteration till the first race

[packman]

The coanda effect creates lift at the right angle ,so they can equate the downforce of the rear wing at high speed.
Thats why ferrari & mclaren change the angle of the sidepod, the blown diffuser is an extra benefit to that.

[bonjon1979]

it's hard to say something about this car. Having viewed it from different angles, especially these coanda-sidepods, it looks like there's some sort of lack of continuum. I hope this is not their final iteration till the first race

There is something odd about it, isn't there. I wonder if it'll come together as parts go on.

[munudeges]

The clearance from the coanda exhaust to the floor looks huge in that picture

It's not great, is it? They spent months getting that set up on their car last season and when they finally did they weren't even getting in the top ten. To be honest this looks like more of the same and it is a world away from the Ferrari and especially the McLaren and the Red Bull. There's also way, way too much bodywork in that area when compared with other teams.

For their sake one can only hope this chassis changes radically because they're currently short of what the probable midfield is doing, let alone the probable top three.

[user001]

haha HAM ran out of fuel on his first ride. maybe the actually did not solve the fuel consumption problem. who knows...... ?

[dren]

Finally, a top down shot, and just what I expected. The W04 looks a lot like the Mclaren, except it exits the sidepod exhaust a tad further back than the Mclaren. Other than that, they are pretty damn close to the same. The livery doesn't help the eyes much on the W04.

[Mika1]

Finally, a top down shot, and just what I expected. The W04 looks a lot like the Mclaren, except it exits the sidepod exhaust a tad further back than the Mclaren. Other than that, they are pretty damn close to the same. The livery doesn't help the eyes much on the W04.

I can't agree more. If you wouldn't know better, you thought it was a McLaren.

[munudeges]

I can't agree more. If you wouldn't know better, you thought it was a McLaren.

[dren]

W04s dip in the floor under the venting tunnel remains a real head-scratcher......

Agreed. I don't understand what that's about. The only thing I can think it would do is generate a low pressure zone... just in front of the beam wing. But then, armchair aerodynamicists are well known to be wrong 99.999% of the time, I'd love to see someone make a CFD model of it and see if we can vaguely understand what it does.

The bulge looks like it is in the vertical coming towards you. It's kind of funky how it meets the floor.

[GrizzleBoy]

Who knows.

That whole area could just be bolted on rubbish for the media while they develop what's underneath, hence the supposedly weird aero flow.

[Artur Craft]

The coanda effect creates lift at the right angle ,so they can equate the downforce of the rear wing at high speed.
Thats why ferrari & mclaren change the angle of the sidepod, the blown diffuser is an extra benefit to that.

I don't know what your engineering background is, but Coanda Effect is merely a natural trend of a fluid to follow the path of smooth curves of surfaces surrounding it's slipstreaming.

At a right angle(actually with just over around 35º) there is no Coanda effect whatsoever. The airflow will no longer follow the curve of the surface and a low pressure zone will be created there which will generate a turbulance nearby

Plus, when designing a race car, you NEVER want to creat lift. It's absolute nonsense to say : "the coanda effect creates lift at the right angle ,so they can equate the downforce of the rear wing at high speed."

The Coanda effect have been used by Sauber, and later Red Bull, to guide the exhaust plume through the gap between the diffuser/floor lateral extremes and the rear tires

That's all about it

[ScottB]

The analysis on James Allen's blog, with the aid of Mark Gillan is quite interesting. He seems (at least to me) to suggest that the front wing and nose that's on the car at the moment could be dummy parts. Certainly the wing anyway as a new five element wing is mentioned.

It does seem like there's been a bit of a 'back to basics' approach with this car, which would be the way to go after last years problems...

[PlatinumZealot]

The clearance from the coanda exhaust to the floor looks huge in that picture

It's not great, is it? They spent months getting that set up on their car last season and when they finally did they weren't even getting in the top ten. To be honest this looks like more of the same and it is a world away from the Ferrari and especially the McLaren and the Red Bull. There's also way, way too much bodywork in that area when compared with other teams.

For their sake one can only hope this chassis changes radically because they're currently short of what the probable midfield is doing, let alone the probable top three.

Brawn said the coanda exhaust was not working well because the W03 side pods were badly shaped.