They had been sitting on DAS for a while. James Allison (I think) explained that one of the engineers had had the idea but it had proved to be too heavy etc., and so had been put on the shelf. And then they found themselves with spare resource and a car that could carry the extra weight, and they decided to develop it "just because they could". Which is pretty cool, in my book.El Scorchio wrote: ↑24 Mar 2021, 01:01Exactly. It’s about knowing when to play your cards, as much as having them in the first place. They could have been sitting on DAS for a few years for all we know. This token thing might end up being a red herring, but they could well be sitting on something right now and waiting to reveal it.
I get what you're saying but there'd be no point to sacrificing the first race unless the update didn't require tokens. By FP1 on Friday, all the teams (except Haas, lol) will have spent their tokens. At that point, there would be no incentive to delay the update package until the second race. If the update is something that does not require tokens and thus other teams can copy, it'd be better for Merc to just run in during the first race and capitalize on that rather than waiting until the perfect race/weekend window.
As someone who really wants to see a new champion, the unbelievable confidence and borderline arrogance from Mercedes is truly frightening. They’ve had a dismal test and yet engineers like Shovlin and Vowles are laughing on their YouTube channel about ducks and horses. It’s like they know how far ahead they are and there’s no need to worry.
They did the correlation tests, first they they were running the fences. You always go in steps, so if they correlate the test car to the previous wind tunnel model this is already enough. Furthermore it strongly depends on the type of thrick they do...I am sure a floor elongation like McLaren did it does not need a new correlation test as this is quite save in CFD and on the backside of the car. Also mechanical tricks are save. Only if they would change at the front I would say a new correlation would be good.
If they have a big untested upgrade, It's not arrogance or overconfidence. It's worry and fear of having their idea copied that's prevented them bolting it to the car thus far. I'm sure they'd have infinitely preferred bringing it to the test in an ideal world, but it's either too secret, not ready, or just doesn't exist at all.....Kingshark wrote: ↑24 Mar 2021, 09:44As someone who really wants to see a new champion, the unbelievable confidence and borderline arrogance from Mercedes is truly frightening. They’ve had a dismal test and yet engineers like Shovlin and Vowles are laughing on their YouTube channel about ducks and horses. It’s like they know how far ahead they are and there’s no need to worry.
Ominous
Where did you get arrogance? If anything, they've admitted the car isn't where it should be and that they have a lot of work to do until the first race.Kingshark wrote: ↑24 Mar 2021, 09:44As someone who really wants to see a new champion, the unbelievable confidence and borderline arrogance from Mercedes is truly frightening. They’ve had a dismal test and yet engineers like Shovlin and Vowles are laughing on their YouTube channel about ducks and horses. It’s like they know how far ahead they are and there’s no need to worry.
Ominous
How is FIA even checking that teams don't run tests on some hidden track? These companies have the resources to build extra chassis and run it as long as they want. Is there a police which follows them closely?!
Now you mention it, that rings a bell! You're right as well about the 'just because they could'. That's really the sort of innovation that should be driving the teams in F1, so in that respect it's a shame when wings get clipped. It's great that teams have stuff just sitting on the shelf in case it ever becomes relevant or workable in the future.Just_a_fan wrote: ↑24 Mar 2021, 01:24They had been sitting on DAS for a while. James Allison (I think) explained that one of the engineers had had the idea but it had proved to be too heavy etc., and so had been put on the shelf. And then they found themselves with spare resource and a car that could carry the extra weight, and they decided to develop it "just because they could". Which is pretty cool, in my book.El Scorchio wrote: ↑24 Mar 2021, 01:01Exactly. It’s about knowing when to play your cards, as much as having them in the first place. They could have been sitting on DAS for a few years for all we know. This token thing might end up being a red herring, but they could well be sitting on something right now and waiting to reveal it.
I don’t mean arrogance in a negative way, I mean it in a positive way. Merc are 100% aware of how much better they are than everyone else. That’s why they were the only team who didn’t test the new floor in Abu Dhabi and the only team who did not test with their upgraded car in Bahrain.mkay wrote: ↑24 Mar 2021, 12:17Where did you get arrogance? If anything, they've admitted the car isn't where it should be and that they have a lot of work to do until the first race.Kingshark wrote: ↑24 Mar 2021, 09:44As someone who really wants to see a new champion, the unbelievable confidence and borderline arrogance from Mercedes is truly frightening. They’ve had a dismal test and yet engineers like Shovlin and Vowles are laughing on their YouTube channel about ducks and horses. It’s like they know how far ahead they are and there’s no need to worry.
Ominous
I've always thought of Mercedes people as being very humble considering the unprecedented level of success they've achieved in the past 7 years.