Today's unveiled Mercedes AMG F1 W09 resembles a lot its sucessful predecessor, the championship winning W08. And this is no coincidence, as team boss Toto Wolff reveals. However, there are some interesting changes to come this year with the new car.
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I know it's been a few days since roll out, but here are some of my thoughts on new W09.
Much has been said already about the car. At first look, it's an evolution of W08, then you start seeing all the little differences that are a testimony to the great new level Formula 1 has been pushed towards by Mercedes. The change in suspension geometry as an answer to problems of last year and Halo as well, subtle changes in barge board area that give them more room for improvement, introduction of increased rake concept for them, the same wheelbase in spite of woes from last year.
When you think about it, they chose a riskier path. Their concept showed some problems last year. Almost every other team would change it for a different one. There were reports telling us - they will change a lot of the car, for sure, 100%. Nope. They stick with it. It takes guts. And they will make it work. Better than other teams? We will see. Better than 2017 car? You can bet your house on that.
How did they approach this season? Their concept is, from what i see - lets change things wisely and keep things with a risk. A wise change would be to increase the rake, it's a good concept, proven and seems stable enough these days. A risk would be to keep the wheel base, they had problems around Monaco and other narrow tracks and everything was pointing to wheelbase. But was it just that?
Longer car means slightly more mass. Just as tests started, there were rumors of W08 being slightly overweight. It slimmed down during the season. It could, and probably did, loose a bit more in winter. This gives the team more ballast to play with. Wider set-up area. Better feel for the driver. Confidence boost. Speed. Lap times drop.
But they stepped it up, as they know - if you don't go forward, you will fall back. Some big suspension kinematics changes, while also seemingly reducing aero penalty of suspension. They will increase rake progressively. James Allison is a true suspension guru, isn't he? Hats off.
They observed competition, they saw some things. Barge boards have a bit of Ferrari in them, the very same details Ferrari kept. And Red Bull copied these as well. And some other teams. Smart.
"What else can we do? Let's shape it up a bit!" Car lines are more subtle, more elegant. Less disruption, less drag, same effect - if not better. Improvement of perfection.
It's not easy being a champion. Everyone is chasing you, looking for the edge. You need to stay focused. To improve beyond what's possible. Well done, Silver Arrows!
So assuming that the scale is 10cm between each line and that the yellow lines mark the axles ...
The wheelbase would be around 386-388 cm which would be way longer than the old calculation.
I used the ruler tool in PS to measure that stuff
I tried to confirm the assumption of 10cm by measuring the wheel which ended up being 62.xxx pixels which divided by 0.9 is roughly 68cm
I also tried to confirm the assumption that the yellow lines mark the axles by drawing squares around the edges of the front and then the rear tyres which then allowed me to find the middle of those, thus marking the axles.
Ofc the pic is wayyyyy too pixelated/low res to take any of this seriously
Is there a mandated length for the halo? That might help relate the units from top-down and thus help calculate, perhaps. All depends on if the rules require an exact length for the halo.
Seeing as it's a spec part underneath the fairing, I would say that's a safe assumption. Though you'd have to work out where the fairing muddles the measurements.
the four immutable forces:
static balance
dynamic balance
static imbalance
dynamic imbalance
So assuming that the scale is 10cm between each line and that the yellow lines mark the axles ... https://i.imgur.com/OpXGL2w.png
The wheelbase would be around 386-388 cm which would be way longer than the old calculation.
I used the ruler tool in PS to measure that stuff
I tried to confirm the assumption of 10cm by measuring the wheel which ended up being 62.xxx pixels which divided by 0.9 is roughly 68cm
I also tried to confirm the assumption that the yellow lines mark the axles by drawing squares around the edges of the front and then the rear tyres which then allowed me to find the middle of those, thus marking the axles. https://i.imgur.com/eXPgOCY.png
Ofc the pic is wayyyyy too pixelated/low res to take any of this seriously