Mercedes W13

[cirrusflyer]

From Motorsport.com

"Porpoising - it’s the buzzword at the start of this new rules era. Effectively the cars rock or bounce up and down as the air attaches and reattached itself when they approach vmax. Like yesterday, it’s Hamilton who appears to be suffering most with it this morning. The Merc is wallowing even before the 400m board on the run to Turn 1. You can here the revs rise and fall in sync as the W13 is unsettled. Looks a touch violent. Anyone got a number for the osteopath?"
Matt Kew

So why Russell didn't have this?

Plenty of reasons. Different aeroparts? Different suspension setup? DRS/no DRS? Change in ride height? Change in ballast weights?

Or another floor we might saw yesterday waiting in the garage?

[AeroDynamic]

So why Russell didn't have this?

Plenty of reasons. Different aeroparts? Different suspension setup? DRS/no DRS? Change in ride height? Change in ballast weights?

Or another floor we might saw yesterday waiting in the garage?

I was intrigued to see if there would be a new floor in use this morning but so far, it looks like the same floor as before – at least from above (maybe its new underneath?) this photo was this morning

[atanatizante]

With such dissimilar concepts, we are ALL wondering who got it wrong at this point...

It`ll be the same old aero concept: drag vs downforce, but this time the latter is produced more down to Venturi tunnel rather than diffuser itself ... IMHO how has the bulkier car/sidepods structure will have a bigger drag with these new regs ... my two cents ...

[k.ko100v]

With such dissimilar concepts, we are ALL wondering who got it wrong at this point...

It`ll be the same old aero concept: drag vs downforce, but this time the latter is produced more down to Venturi tunnel rather than diffuser itself ... IMHO how has the bulkier car/sidepods structure will have a bigger drag with these new regs ... my two cents ...

I would put in the game downforce consistency and pilot balls as well.

Have some memories that the old ground effect cars had DF loss quite fast below certain speed.

[Sieper]

Quite impressive how they got everything to taper, and the huge floor surface next to the rear wheels because of it. They are more or less the only team that went for as much clear floor as you can get. With Mclaren a second. The rest all went with higher sidepods carrying on longer.

Curious to see what turns out to be the most beneficial. But it is clear a lot of thought has gone into this. Except for that bunch of white wires in the front of the sidepot

Not wires, they are air tubes for pressure sensors, so they are thick and can't make tight bends, they are only for testing and wouldn't be on during races.

Ah, that is why it looked like an "afterthought" these connect to the small pitot tubes and there is a central device recording the actual pressure at each gage?

[SiLo]

Interesting that they have some porpoising. I guess testing they will run setups from one extreme to another though to see how the car reacts and then gradually hone in on the best setup.

[atanatizante]

Interesting that they have some porpoising. I guess testing they will run setups from one extreme to another though to see how the car reacts and then gradually hone in on the best setup.

On the official site, they said they`ll bring a new floor for testing this morning, maybe to cure the wobbling effect which was seen on a bigger scale than anybody else like Jolyon Palmer implied:

This effect I first noticed on a video with RB18 slowing down in approaching for a pit stop but what puzzles me is the fact that this ground effect formula which requires a low rake and a stiff suspension/platform approach is detrimental to Merc`s car, a team which was the master of this car philosophy for so many years ... hope it's just the baby footsteps/gremlins that come with a new car at the start of the season ...

[AeroDynamic]

Interesting that they have some porpoising. I guess testing they will run setups from one extreme to another though to see how the car reacts and then gradually hone in on the best setup.

On the official site, they said they`ll bring a new floor for testing this morning, maybe to cure the wobbling effect which was seen on a bigger scale than anybody else like Jolyon Palmer implied:

This effect I first noticed on a video with RB18 slowing down in approaching for a pit stop but what puzzles me is the fact that this ground effect formula which requires a low rake and a stiff suspension/platform approach is detrimental to Merc`s car, a team which was the master of this car philosophy for so many years ... hope it's just the baby footsteps/gremlins that come with a new car at the start of the season ...

timestamp in the video please

flowViz on the mercedes - the upwash is their wing or also their suspension direction?


more open view of the Mercedes rear suspension

[atanatizante]

Interesting that they have some porpoising. I guess testing they will run setups from one extreme to another though to see how the car reacts and then gradually hone in on the best setup.

On the official site, they said they`ll bring a new floor for testing this morning, maybe to cure the wobbling effect which was seen on a bigger scale than anybody else like Jolyon Palmer implied:

This effect I first noticed on a video with RB18 slowing down in approaching for a pit stop but what puzzles me is the fact that this ground effect formula which requires a low rake and a stiff suspension/platform approach is detrimental to Merc`s car, a team which was the master of this car philosophy for so many years ... hope it's just the baby footsteps/gremlins that come with a new car at the start of the season ...

timestamp in the video please

Here you go at the 3:50 minute :

[SiLo]

So some saying they looked great along with ferrari and Mclaren, but also saying they have some bouncing going on as well which isn't good.

First days of testing though, I think all of these cars are going to get so much faster as the teams start to understand them a lot more.

[ENGINE TUNER]

Quite impressive how they got everything to taper, and the huge floor surface next to the rear wheels because of it. They are more or less the only team that went for as much clear floor as you can get. With Mclaren a second. The rest all went with higher sidepods carrying on longer.

Curious to see what turns out to be the most beneficial. But it is clear a lot of thought has gone into this. Except for that bunch of white wires in the front of the sidepot

Not wires, they are air tubes for pressure sensors, so they are thick and can't make tight bends, they are only for testing and wouldn't be on during races.

Ah, that is why it looked like an "afterthought" these connect to the small pitot tubes and there is a central device recording the actual pressure at each gage?

Yes, exactly

[AeroDynamic]

So some saying they looked great along with ferrari and Mclaren, but also saying they have some bouncing going on as well which isn't good.

First days of testing though, I think all of these cars are going to get so much faster as the teams start to understand them a lot more.

Sam Collins thinking is that it might be quite challenging to solve for Mercedes (based on his assumption that the issue is a product of their car concept)

[mkay]

So some saying they looked great along with ferrari and Mclaren, but also saying they have some bouncing going on as well which isn't good.

First days of testing though, I think all of these cars are going to get so much faster as the teams start to understand them a lot more.

Sam Collins thinking is that it might be quite challenging to solve for Mercedes (based on his assumption that the issue is a product of their car concept)

Where did he say this?

[AeroDynamic]

So some saying they looked great along with ferrari and Mclaren, but also saying they have some bouncing going on as well which isn't good.

First days of testing though, I think all of these cars are going to get so much faster as the teams start to understand them a lot more.

Sam Collins thinking is that it might be quite challenging to solve for Mercedes (based on his assumption that the issue is a product of their car concept)

Where did he say this?

in the video referenced above at 5:30

[SiLo]

So some saying they looked great along with ferrari and Mclaren, but also saying they have some bouncing going on as well which isn't good.

First days of testing though, I think all of these cars are going to get so much faster as the teams start to understand them a lot more.

Sam Collins thinking is that it might be quite challenging to solve for Mercedes (based on his assumption that the issue is a product of their car concept)

Where did he say this?

In the video Aero posted. I'm no aerodynamicist, so I have no skin in this game, but it seems that surely the issue is the floor creating so much downforce and the car being so compressed that it then starves the flow right?

Is that a concept issue? I see its a concept issue if the loss of downforce was because above a certain speed the front of the floor had unwanted vortices shedding or something, but losing downforce because the car is almost too low doesn't see to be a concept issue?

Happy to someone with more knowledge to explain it to me so I can understand better.