Mercedes W12

[dans79]

Also, stating that the Red Bull team "managed to interpret the 2021 aero regulations more brilliantly", and the seemingly exclusive information of the overheating Mercedes PU in Bahrain don't help the article's credibility with me, frankly...

Yeah, this is because many sad people have entered the anyone but Mercedes phase!

[zibby43]

Forgot to mention this, but I recently read a comment from Mark Hughes regarding Merc's token expenditure on the W12.

He said there's been some chatter that Merc narrowed the monocoque around the leading edge of the side pods. He revealed this in a comment on one of his articles at The Race.

It's yet to be confirmed, but I figured with all of the outstanding technical eyes here, it's an area we can scrutinize in past/future photos.

How would that even work though?... I recall James Allison saying in the "The 2021 Mercedes F1 Car EXPLAINED!" video (which was recorded just before the Bahrain test) that the W12's homologated components aren't just merely copies of it's predecessor's, but many of those parts, including the monocoque itself are in fact previously raced units from last season (hence why he had no 2020 car to compare the new one to)... Have they chiseled that part off of last year's chassis?

No idea. Just passing along information, and Mark is a pretty reliable source.

Went back and found the quote from Mark:

"I believe their monocoque is narrower around the leading edge of the sidepods. Not confirmed yet though."

In the comments from this article: https://the-race.com/formula-1/mark-hug ... -mercedes/

[SiLo]

Surely that would be fairly easy to spot with some decent photos of this years car and last years car?

[El Scorchio]

Surely that would be fairly easy to spot with some decent photos of this years car and last years car?

Agree. There are so many photos where people easily spot minute detail changes. Someone would easily have spotted something as big as that by now.

[ClarkBT11]

Wogx previously posted this image, asking if there was any difference? The number 77 has been designed to fit in a smaller area, in my opinion the picture on the right looks to be shorter in width. What do do you guys think?

[dans79]

https://i.ibb.co/jZFYHkx/comment-161590 ... rx4-YZ.jpg

Wogx previously posted this image, asking if there was any difference? The number 77 has been designed to fit in a smaller area, in my opinion the picture on the right looks to be shorter in width. What do do you guys think?

the perspective angle and distance away is to different to make a decent observation.

[atanatizante]

They wavy edges at the front of the car were born from this rule.. But it seems the edge of the floor is not the issue, it is the area deeper insisde near the dissuer.

That's correct, the wedge taken out of the floor in front of the rear tires, has made the rear break ducts more important to keeping tire squirt out of the diffuser. The changes to the rules make it harder to do this for low rake cars than higher rake ones. To be clear the rake itself has nothing to do with it, just the relative position of the ducts to the floor.

Seems to me they have to trade off some rear DF and reshape those rear brake ducts in order to better seal that area between the rear wheel and difusser's edge. But this must also corelate with the new FW & FF (floor furniture) design for better/more powerful vortices and this takes time...

[Coefficient]

I don't think mercedes have taken all the buns out of the oven yet. Gambling on muddling through the early races with the current spec with the new parts baking until Spain. Then, Boom!

[Just_a_fan]

https://i.ibb.co/jZFYHkx/comment-161590 ... rx4-YZ.jpg

Wogx previously posted this image, asking if there was any difference? The number 77 has been designed to fit in a smaller area, in my opinion the picture on the right looks to be shorter in width. What do do you guys think?

It's always worth remembering that the tub is heavily defined in the regulations. There are minimum dimensions that all must meet. The tubbhas a minimum sectional dimension.

[ClarkBT11]

https://i.ibb.co/jZFYHkx/comment-161590 ... rx4-YZ.jpg

Wogx previously posted this image, asking if there was any difference? The number 77 has been designed to fit in a smaller area, in my opinion the picture on the right looks to be shorter in width. What do do you guys think?

It's always worth remembering that the tub is heavily defined in the regulations. There are minimum dimensions that all must meet. The tubbhas a minimum sectional dimension.

Are there any benefits from reducing the tub and leading edge of the sidepods other than reducing drag? Could Mercedes create stronger vortices (increase drag) from the front wing and bargeboards to help seal the floor, due to the drag they've shed from reducing the size of the tub and sidepods?

[DarthPlagueisTheVise]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/merc ... l/6235876/

[zioture]

[jjn9128]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ey7tS_iXAAE ... =4096x4096

Illustrates nicely how high the rake on "low rake" concept cars is.

[atanatizante]

I don`t if you guys watched this last year video from the team YT channel regarding the F1 car setup:



There are at least 3 interesting comments from this video:

1. How they set up their car and why;
2. When it comes to setup issues 9 times out of 10 are tyre related!
3. Nowadays, there are talking coming out of the technical group about the next rules and their proposals are here stipulated, which involve 4WD, front-wheel electric drive, independent wheel braking ...

[Just_a_fan]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ey7tS_iXAAE ... =4096x4096

Illustrates nicely how high the rake on "low rake" concept cars is.

Exactly. The way some of the talking heads in the media go on about it, you'd think the Mercedes was running its entire belly on the floor and the Red Bull was doing hand stands.