Morteza wrote: β16 Apr 2018, 03:32
Has Mercedes introduced anything new/innovative to their car other than the big update at Barcelona last year? The way I remember it W08 was pretty much the same after Barcelona update (some small changes due to different tracks). W09 is basically a refined W08, but with not much difference (the biggest change is the suspension mountings, I guess).
They redesigned bodywork and vanes in front of barge boards in a way Ferrari ran them from the start of 2017, most likely to produce different flow structures to provide better diffuser sealing with high rake in mind for the future. Can't remember if RB13 used these as well last year, but all 3 cars have them now and many others as well. Other stuff is constant refinement, diffuser being an exemplary piece.
W09:
W08:
JasonF1 wrote: β16 Apr 2018, 07:40
I wonder if Mercedes has reached the dead end with that car. Toto did imply that the W09 would have a pace advantage if they could hit the sweet spot, 6-8 tenths is a lot of time to find though. It is also amazing how Ferrari has drastically changed their concepts and it's been smooth sailing from the get go.
Dead end is nowhere near for any of these cars, barge boards and deflectors have so much room for more aero bits and overall refinement. The question remains, however, how fast and how much can more performance come from these cars. And it will be answered during the season.
In this sense, I feel Mercedes is hindered in side pod area. Barge boards, wings and diffusers will be updated on all cars, bits and pieces as well, but Mercedes will still have more air coming on top of side pods than RB and Ferrari, less air coming around them (and over diffuser) and bigger frontal surface which is always more drag. Unless they make a drastic change mid-season, of course. But it seems to be too much work to do in less than half a year, it sure proved to be so for Red Bull.
To be fair to them, it looks like they really needed to focus as much as possible on suspension and didn't want to change their aero approach too much. Look how that turned out for Williams.
How has Ferrari drastically changed their concept?
If you mean extended wheelbase, that's far from drastic change. And for the record, it was far from smooth sailing in winter testing and Australia. (Ferrari OT over.
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