This is a seriously underrated channel. I think there are a lot of people out there who want more than the news and rumors. We want details and technical information; you feed us well. Thank you!
I think this new suspension component progressively gets hard as it is compressed, which will help in maintaining the distance between the front wing and the ground without stiffing up the suspension. I also think this fixed their problem with the front wing producing to much downforce because it got too close to the ground too.
So Merc found a way to make their suspension work better for the setup of their car by redesigning it... Not really a *trick* ( as you say ) now is it! What it actually is, is just an upgrade to make the car perform better and perfectly within the rules. What, are Merc not allowed to improve their car now.... 🙄 Unbelievable F-ing believable!!😒
Where were you brother for so long. Awesome channel, although i struggled to understand most of the technical details, it feels nice to listen to actual tech rather than gossips and if if if. Great work. You earned a subscriber today ❤❤❤
Been saying this since the W13. The Aero of the W13 was literally perfection, but it created so much down force that they couldn't control it at all. It was like an on/off switch, either it squished the car into a pancake, or it had zero down force. Hence the ride height rules introduced at the end of that season. The w14 tried to go "conventional" with the Bspec, hoping that the top of the car would provide just enough lift to compensate. Notice how the w15 was all about "chassis" and "suspension" and "balance". No one was talking about aero anymore, because mercedes realized that they 100% needed a stronger platform to hold so much load. In a perfect world, the aero of the A spec W14 with the zero drag zero pod design, placed on the current updated W15 suspension would make an insane rocket ship. But you know, reddit noobs will keep saying the sidepods is whats wrong with the car lmfao. How naive. The zero pod idea was the perfect way to shave massive amounts of drag, IF you could keep the car level with the ground at all times to make consistent and predictable down force. B Spec merc w15 should go now think about this approach to lose drag (and weight) by having less side pods.
I think hence why RB had such a massive advantage. They focused on platform control first. Does not matter if you had the most downforce if you just bottom out and stall. Merc did have a nice idea but during that testing in Barcelona they were slamming that car into the ground harder than any other team it looked like. Now that Merc had figured it out, as well as MCL, we finally have some racing. Almost seems like to late though. We have just one more season until the new regs come out. And who knows if platform control is as important as it is now with active aero.
The sidepods had problem bro. They barely made any outwash meaning the air hit the rear wheels increasing drag also they had a very high center of gravity due to those sidepods
i think what they did it right is that "mountain" or "hilly" curve of their floor panel. (the upper surface). which slows the flow of air, or having the air flowing over the floor panel upper surface takes LONGER path than the venturi curve under the floor. which makes it from the moving car perspective, the flow of the air under the floor would be much faster than the flow over the floor panel. which technically amplifies the ground effect. this is also why you see their sidepod upper surface curve so much the way they are. which makes the air over it travel even longer. people would think " dont that would instead add lift to the sidepods?" .if there is no ground effect employed under the floor it would. but since the ground effect only takes effect in the moving car then the "application" should be FROM the moving car perspective. instead of from a stationary perspective. with a moving car perspective, the air under the floor SHOULD flow FASTER than the air flowing over the floor panel and over the sidepods in relation to the CAR itself. so it would cause a "suction" effect. the ground will grab the air under the floor and rip it through the CURVED floor. while the ambient air over it are much more compliant to the sidepod shape's drag and will be dragged along with it. which the difference of that velocity of flow in relation to the car produce the desired venturi ground effect. i believe the mercedes merely just finally get that "harmony" right.
I believe the new front end ‘third element’ is a large Belleville washer type damper now, with dampening fluid pressurized between the washers. This makes it both a damper and highly linear and more predictable sprung device
It's no different to the one that RedBull have had on their car! RedBull have also got hidden suspension in their cars! Especially in the rear of their cars!
As a complete layman I think that they have put in a heave damper to end all heave dampers in combination with a more progressive linkage system. If this damper is so powerful that it can dissipate most of energy from porpoising when the floor is running close to the ground then it will have to be big and cooled to prevent it from exploding. Maybe next update will be something similar but less extreme for the rear axel? Silly me, but the fact that they recently had to replace the floor after (was it?) two races because it was worn out by debris indicate to me that it’s running lower than low. Greetings from Denmark
The floor was replaced because it was too heavy, and the geometry of the floor is the same. How you came to this conclusion that it had damage is beyond me lmfao
Not to disagree with your conclusion BuT the only cooling a F1 car could claim to need would be it's engine cooling. Oil in an engine, among other technical things, does cool, clean, seals, lubricates, dampens * noises & prevents corrosion.
Merc definitely found something for their platform. Aero wise the top four teams must be within a very close margin of each other. But platform control is the make or break. Maybe it's a heave damper of some sort that's larger or maybe had a controlled buckleing of sorts. Just to keep the car more level and not let it porpoise. Merc has had some decent one lap pace for this reg. But now it looks like they finally found race pace. It'll be interesting to see what RB and MCL will bring. They'll still want wins for this season and next. Max has a decent lead that will need to be chopped away. And RB is going to start falling if checo doesn't step his game up. Both of them have been solidly in the lead so dev had to have slowed down or went into the new regs. Even with the rule in place that you're not allowed to work on new regs until the year prior. They are just working on a project that just so happens to be closely related. So this will be an interesting season till the end. As well as next year unless the others found some magic.
When it comes to suspension,james and mercedes are outstanding now i wonder,knowing that lewis takes lots of photos of the car,could we see this in the future 2025 ferrari?
its not a trick and they not hiding nothing all upgrades are reported to fia and car is inspected by fia , they are simply using bigger components as there front suspesion was virtually zero travel and to stiff , lewis has been asking for this all season hes stated that in many interviews
Mercedes sneakily (you said) added a vanity package when all could see as it was in plain sight and commented on by many. Is it your view that is sneaky?
They will be running comparison tests again in Hungary between the Imola & Barcelona package. But I suspect they too will need a change in their front suspension like you said.
I used to be a fan of Mercedes. I studied aerodynamics. At present, Mercedes' racing car is not the best. The outer wash structure of the side skirts is a bit too much and even a bit bloated. But Mercedes is really solving the problem this time. At the beginning of the season, the team had a serious dolphin jump problem, that is, at the beginning, the ride height was still very low. After that, they raised the ride height, the dolphin jump was gone, but the downforce was very insufficient. Then the ride height was gradually lowered in the process. This is a relatively moderate solution, at least it can maintain the stability of the platform. In fact, the Mercedes team, with zero side boxes in the 2022 season, has great potential. But the biggest problem of the team at that time was that it did not solve the problem. TOTO WOLF focused all his energy on creating stars. Russell has many problems. He is not suitable to be Hamilton's partner. He is too eager for quick success and instant benefits. He always makes various mistakes. He does not listen to the team's instructions and pre-race plans. He always tries to prove that he is better than Hamilton in various ways, which has an adverse effect on the results of the game. The biggest problem in the 2022 season is not the development concept, but the team does not really realize where the problem is. Throughout the 2022 season, the Mercedes team did not solve the primary problem of dolphin jumping. This is why the Mercedes team was extremely unstable in the 2022 season and the car kept bouncing. In the 2023 season, this problem was also not taken seriously, dolphin jumping still exists, and development has gone to another extreme. The cockpit is too forward, blindly copying Red Bull, blindly increasing the vortex generation point and downforce. This is also the main reason why no Mercedes team won a championship in the 2023 season. The car in the 2023 season is really ugly, and the zero side box in 2022 is still somewhat beautiful. If Toto Wolf did not distribute resources evenly and gave all the team's resources to Russell, Hamilton would not be taken seriously, and Hamilton would not lose to Russell. Russell has always lacked the mental concentration under high pressure. He will make many mistakes under high pressure, just like Verstappen, who is very impulsive. He does not cherish the car. I expected Verstappen to have problems at the Austrian Grand Prix. Because in the 2022-2023 season, he has the car with the highest pressure on the track. (His car is not the fastest in the absolute sense. It's just that the rest of the teams are slipping in the corners), which led to him not being able to compete. Once he enters the competitive state, he will inevitably make more mistakes. Back to Mercedes, if Mercedes had started to solve the problem earlier, the dolphin jump is the most important problem, which must be solved, followed by the problem of the rear suspension not being hard enough, because this ground effect design will lack rear end downforce, and the downforce brought by the rear wing is not enough. At high speeds, the rear end is at risk of swaying left and right. This is also the direct cause of the slip in the corner. The design problem of the rear suspension is solved, and the car is perfect. And it can be far ahead. If Mercedes had done this earlier, Hamilton would not have left Mercedes. The problem was not solved in two seasons, and no longer-term contract was offered. This is very disappointing for a man who has won 8 team championships and 6 individual world championships for the team. Mercedes' fundamental problems are at the management level, not the development level, and Toto Wolf is primarily responsible. Because it is clear that he not only controls what happens in the paddock, but also controls the development factory. It is always wrong for one person to dominate.
I think he might be thinking the same thing currently! But in all seriousness, I think he's looking more long term to the 2026 F1 regs and hoping Ferrari provide the leading package of chassis and engine to win races and world titles again.
@@JustSomeGuyWithNoMaidens completely agree. It was not just about the title for him anymore. His time is limited, he wants a voice and a legacy. Merc did not offer him that and Ferrari did. Another win will be nice, but in the larger scheme, the world knows the truth about 2021, so his focus shifted to legacy.
People haven't taken this being called a secret trick very well. This channel isbt trying to slander mercedes it's here to praise engineering whilst drawing people in with dramatic language. Grow up.
