AA_2019 wrote: ↑25 May 2023, 14:04
Farnborough wrote: ↑25 May 2023, 13:13
Quite a decent direct comparison in side by side illustration here, of front suspension geometry shift.
This is the game changer that alone will half the gap to RB imo.
Downside will be poorer tyre and brake warm-up for qualy and on lap 1 of the race on front limited circuits.
If it were so simple that a simple anti-dive suspension would be the gamechanger, then everyone would do it. Thanks to the media, many people think that a suspension system alone thar is known for many, many decades will change the world (in this case, F1). It doesn't. There are so many things that need to be considered here that are related to this and that need to be coordinated so that this come close to even something like a big advantage. Otherwise, everyone would just do that and everything would be fine.
I do not know if you are familiar with the concept of jacking in the context of roll centre and pitch centres placements. Anti-geometries are about generating counter-torques, but the vertical force component also lifts the chassis. And when it comes to maintaining the orientation of the aeroplatform in relation to pitch, it's also about the impact on vehicle height. This all has to be considered and, as should now be clear, Red Bull's secret cannot lie in this suspension alone (and that you can drive lower). Anti-geometry also introduces certain dynamic compromises to performance. that need to be considered and balanced. Some of this can only be achieved with a new Moncoque.Without Anti-Geometry, all the pitching moment is reacted to by the springs. The Anti-Geometry shifts a good part of it to the very stiff suspension members, whose softest part and weakest link are the tires. Therefore, it is also wrong to assume that anti-geometry would necessarily cause the tires to heat up less. During heavy braking, the sudden loading of the tires in this transition phase can result in oscilations in the unsprung mass. The average pressures of the contact patch reduce, which can lead to a "peaky" feeling in the tires.In addition to these disadvantages in braking, another effect of this geometry is that the inertia of the sprung mass is incorporated into the wheel's response to road disturbances. This has a similar effect to the example above and the tire is able to generate less grip. The presence of the sprung mass also causes the wheel to move longitudinally during extension and compression, which in turn leads to a dynamic change in wheelbase. This affects the suspension geometry under these conditions, as the caster angle affects parameters such as the mechanical trail. Antidive locks up the suspension travel under braking which is not to good. Any anti effect (roll or squat/dive) is going to take away a certain amount of grip due to higher load fluctuation rate. So one should aim for similar anti-roll and anti-dive percentages to give the driver a similar feeling of the grip level in both cases.
Otherwise the driver will not have confidence in the car which feels uneven. I hope that these explanations, in addition to the disadvantages, also make it clear why, contrary to what now seems to be common public opinion, you can't just build an anti-dive suspension on the car. There are many other parts of the car that need to be tuned. Which also explains why not every team simply builds these suspensions on the car. Because then you quickly end up with a much worse car than before. This suspension is therefore certainly not a game changer for Mercedes and will not bring any huge leaps in time. Without a new chassis tuned to it, there is no chance of that. With a few other necessary changes, it may bring an advantage of 0.2 or 0.3 tenths (or the complete opposite), but it is impossible to be a gamechanger, and Red Bull's "secret" is not its anti-dive suspension alone. There's far more to it than that.
Vanja #66 wrote: ↑25 May 2023, 10:21
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fw9XyAGXwAI ... ame=medium
Bye bye slimpods, chunky cousins of zeropods... Too bad, I really wanted Merc to make them work.
The floor attachment line looks to follow the current floor, so we might see later another updated floor design with completely flat sides, like AMR.
Yeah, bye bye Zero/Slimpods. Normally it's nice to be right, especially after what some people said about the Zeropods being gone by 2023, but I would have preferred to keep the variety of concepts. But it is also very positive that Mercedes' current solution is not a Red Bull copy as some had feared, but includes both Ferrari and Red Bull solutions and completely own ways. Can it be that Mercedes has put a big focus on rear tire squirt management?