Would be great if Ferrari are competing. The car looks amazing.
Anything that doesn't involve Red Bull or Max is OK with me.
F1 2022 Season
- Thread starter pauldyson1uk
- Start date
Anything that doesn't involve Red Bull or Max is OK with me.
That's amazing
The Mercedes today was not expected, I dismissed the no sidepods as just wild rumour, If it works the other teams will be fuming.
I have no doubt that Mercedes have had the FIA in on all the development.
Horner not likening it , is a bonus , its his job to question what the other teams are doing, his job to ask the FIA if any/all parts are legal.
2 more days of testing, lets see how it actually works.
I have no doubt that Mercedes have had the FIA in on all the development.
Horner not likening it , is a bonus , its his job to question what the other teams are doing, his job to ask the FIA if any/all parts are legal.
2 more days of testing, lets see how it actually works.
Whether it gets allowed to remain or not, the constant way engineers in F1 seem to find advantages in truly unique ways is fascinating.
Ferrari had a moan about the Mercedes wing mirrors - so random.
I was worried Mercedes would create a new engine with the level of performance in Brazil but more consistency without degradation. They seem to have been able to repackage it into a mini fridge.
We saw some of this from Williams and McLaren so expected a revised package but this looks different to everything else. No idea what Aston Martin are doing with big sidepods, they must just have a blank space with air flowing around.
I really hope that it isn't just Red Bull vs Mercedes - it's become like Jose vs Pep/Wenger.
I was worried Mercedes would create a new engine with the level of performance in Brazil but more consistency without degradation. They seem to have been able to repackage it into a mini fridge.
We saw some of this from Williams and McLaren so expected a revised package but this looks different to everything else. No idea what Aston Martin are doing with big sidepods, they must just have a blank space with air flowing around.
I really hope that it isn't just Red Bull vs Mercedes - it's become like Jose vs Pep/Wenger.
Really interesting to see how this performs. Might be no major difference, might be massive.
Funny that Mercedes were holding this back until now. Knowing they had it ready to unveil. Hilarious.
Interesting design from Mercedes. Will be interesting to see how they tackle the issue of cooling as those side pods are very slim. I really doubt they have any concerns over the rule interpretations of the legally box for the sidepods. As others mentioned, they submitted their designs to FIA for approval which they got and there is no increase in wake off the back of the car (the whole reason for the rule changes in the first place this season).
Going to be interesting season with such variation in designs...
Going to be interesting season with such variation in designs...
So now after watching the video, i would expect there to be protests about this design from Ferrari and RedBull, if Mercedes can actually make it work on track. Mainly because it would be very difficult to copy, not the bodywork design, but the fact that alot of work has to go into the cooling system for the engine and how its all packaged together. Mercedes must have had this idea for awhile now, because the video mentioned that Mercedes have put alot of work into the cooling design of this years car/engine. That work would have started over a year ago for sure. Therefore difficult for rivals to copy it quickly if it does show massive performance gains and Mercedes can get it to work on track.
The new Merc didn't fair so well in testing today. Perhaps it will struggle this year.
Hard to say really during testing as no one knows what simulation they’re running, they have done over a 100 laps today so must have gathered a lot of data. They won’t show their true speed until Bahrain, if there’s huge gap in qualifying expect a load of complaints.
Only thing that Joe bloggs can determine from testing is reliability. Even that's a stretch.
This is an incredible split view of two different designs. You would hope the likes of Ferrari and McLaren have got their aeros nailed on for a competitive season, but likely Merc have found the killer formula yet again.
I thought that and a write up on The Race website said....."The Mercedes, by contrast, appeared to be virtually undriveable at parts of the track – particularly the approach to Turn 1 – when the ride height was set low. When running with a less aggressive ride height, its understeer through the slower corners was excessive...."
However Totto Wolff said...."he was “really proud” of what Mercedes had done with its sidepod design and said it’s now about “tuning the car, so we’re experimenting a lot and we’ll approach it with curiosity....”
So go figure, either its undrivable with the worse porposing on the grid at present or Mercedes really are experimenting or deflecting from the problems. Pre-season testing is never a good indicator of performance in F1.
Merc used to call their previous car a diva. Last year they stopped developing the parts but focused on the setup and by the second half of the year they were getting better and better.
I think we will see a lot of teams still unlocking potential during the first few races then an upgrade introduced at the European races to settle the order.
There might be budget caps but the big teams have the best facilities and talent.
I think we will see a lot of teams still unlocking potential during the first few races then an upgrade introduced at the European races to settle the order.
There might be budget caps but the big teams have the best facilities and talent.
Looks like major design differences, which will make that first qualifying and race really interesting.
Have people seen the video of Gasly on the straight and his head bouncing? Surely they have to sort out the porpoising stuff soon as that’s not healthy for a drivers brain.
luckily for him there’s not much of a brain left after having it scrambled for a season. being used as the sacrificial red bull second driver cum rag by horner and helmet will do that to a man.
imagine 2 or 3 cars all experiencing that as they head into the first corner and trying to avoid wheel contact by fine margins ... safety car is going to be busy (so put your money on max
The new voting system where you need agreement from 8 out of 10 teams rather than unilateral agreement across all, could see any runaway leaders pegged back. Though i expect this season to be quite political as teams complain about design advantages that rivals have that they didnt think of.
I expect FIA will raise the minimum ride height for opening race, to counteract the porposing on saftey grounds.
Im guessing if there is a huge advantage in the merc layout then williams and mclaren will have an engine that they can relatively (compared to the other teams) easily repackage and therefore make a step forward quickly in comparison... therefore in their position I suspect they would be unlikely to vote against their own interests and as such you may struggle to get 8 teams to agree to something on the sidepods / wing mirror supports
Yes i agree, if Mercedes get huge gains from the slimline sidepods, Williams, Aston Martin and Mclaren should be able in theory to copy Mercedes more quickly as they have the same powertrain. Whether all the cooling for the powertrain is the same across those teams or packaged differently i have no idea.
Going back to the voting, you would think that customer teams would vote in line with the manufacturer team therefore still making it difficult to push a change though, though FIA as Ross Brawn has said could intervene directly to enforce a change to go through. You would hope the latter doesnt come to pass unless absolutely necessary as it goes against the ethos of innvoation and design, within the permitted rulesets.
That would be somewhat ironic thinking back to the Double Diffuser
Whilst I don't think the no-sidepod sidepop Merc is a beauty like the ferrari, it does look dangerous. Remindse of a shark, especially with those gills on the side.
Magnussen went fastest today in testing. Nice to see him back.
Horner now saying he never said the car was illegal.
Drive to Survive is out today, just finished the third episode. It's worth viewing and will no doubt reignite some boring and old arguments from last season.
I’m new to F1 and drive to survive is one of the main reasons why. What are the old F1 fans opinions on it? Like or dislike (I think I know the answer)
I like it a lot. It's a great way to expose new people to the sport and it gives the people who already love it a glimpse at the background politics and goings on we don't see just following the races.
Just shows how much sandbagging is going on
I love it because it got you interested and also I love drama even if it's forced
I normally enjoy it.
But really can't be bothered revisiting last seasons clusterfeck in drive to survive. Last season is tainted.
Too much focus on Dannyric, not sure why maybe he is the only one that welcomes it?
It does tend to miss some of the key narratives of the seasons I've found, sensationalist in places, but a good gateway series for new fans.
Cant believe they just glossed over the Monza crash.