The Mercedes W09 launches off the back
of a hugely successful run of championships, during which time the
team and their drivers have collected four back-to-back titles. What
makes this even more impressive is the scale of the regulatory
changes that the team had to overcome for 2017, with no team in the
sports history previously able to maintain their advantage in those
circumstances.
Their 2017 titles did not come without
their challenges though, with the car often described as a ‘diva’
and undoubtedly the cause of more than a few headaches and sleepless
nights along the way. This often meant working tirelessly to find the
optimum setup, an issue compounded by the threat of Ferrari in the
early part of the season, as they made a bold leap forward leading to
a fraught battle between the pair until such point that Mercedes
began to get on top of the cars sometimes counter-intuitive nature.
Speculation regarding the issues faced
by the team saw the finger pointed squarely at the cars wheelbase on more
than one occasion, especially as Mercedes and by default the
‘customer’ teams found the length of their cars to be in stark
contrast to the rest of the field. The team were quick to downplay
any correlation with the cars wheelbase, remaining steadfast in their
statement that their issues were setup and performance window
related. Nonetheless, the rumours did not relent, with many even
suggesting that the team would abandon their low-rake, long wheelbase
philosophy in favour of a shorter, more steeply raked machine for
2018, more akin to the philosophy used by Red Bull since 2009.
As the covers, digital in some cases,
have come off the cars this week it’s become clear that whilst the
Ferrari and Red Bull’s of 2017 seemed more nimble, in part due to
their shorter wheelbase, the general consensus has been to move
toward a longer car, inline with what Mercedes operated with last
season.
The W09 represents a further evolution
of a design philosophy that the team have been pursuing ever since
they returned to the sport in 2010. Hard lessons learnt during 2017
have led to further optimisations of the overall concept, whilst a
steady eye has been cast over the forthcoming changes, including the
introduction of the halo, a significant weight reduction and a new
breed of tyres, which will offer more degradation, from Pirelli.
From the outset the W09 may appear a
little tame, especially when compared with how radical its
predecessor appeared to be when presented but, once you begin to
focus on the detail you can see just how refined this years
challenger is.
The front wing and nose, already at the
head of the field, are carry over from last years design but may be
subject to further changes as the car laps Barcelona in the upcoming
tests.
The front brake ducts, which are
already supremely complex, now sport an additional curved vane [1],
which helps to control the airflow spilt by the front wing and push
it around the front tyre, dictating the shape of the wake generated
by the tyre and therefore improving the performance of the airflow
downstream.
The team have retained the outboard
horned front suspension kingpin extension [2] that they introduced in
2017 alongside Toro Rosso and which has subsequently been copied by
several teams this year. This falls inline with the preservation of
their sidepod concept, which remains in a similar position - albeit
with a narrower inlet, to last year as they look to pair the flow
between the suspension and sidepod in order to improve cooling
efficiency through the car and aerodynamic efficiency over and around
the sidepods. This is further enforced by the use of the chassis
boomerang [3].
Conversely the train of thought
elsewhere, with Ferrari having led the way on this last year and
copied by a large percentage of the grid this season, is to position
the highest of the side impact spars in a lower position, giving the
designers more freedom in terms of the sidepods starting position and
geometry, both internally and externally. Only time will tell who
chose the right option, but this is something that’s essentially
‘baked-in’ to the chassis and is not something that can be
changed easily, bringing us to the conclusion that Mercedes must
consider their choice an aerodynamic advantage that trumps the
flexibility of moving around some weight.
Interestingly the bargeboards, the
scene of intense development for everyone throughout 2017, at first
glance appear to be relatively similar. However, on closer inspection
a great deal of work has gone into improving the flow structures that
can be destroyed and recreated or even reinforced in this area. On
the lower leading edge the team have added two bi-directional
extensions, which extend out toward the front of the car before
sweeping forward and forming crescent shaped pre-bargeboards [4].
The halo has been presented in a fairly
raw format by the team at launch but, like their competitors they are
afforded the opportunity to use a 20mm fairing, which can be used to
alter the aerodynamics of the safety structure. As such, we can
expect a fairing to appear on the W09 pretty rapidly during testing.
You may also note that whilst the airbox doesn’t appear to have
changed dramatically it has been furnished with an additional
horizontal spar in order to deal with the revised airflow pattern
that the halo offers up.
The rear end of the car appears to be tighter than its predecessor,
with the bodywork set to closely hug the powerunit and its
ancillaries [5]. Having been forced, like the rest of the teams, to
ditch the shark fin their engine cover takes up as much of the
available space as is possible within the reworded regulations [6].
The rear suspension has also been reworked with the upper, outer
pickup point having been raised and the accompanying aero appendage
adapted to suit [7]. Meanwhile, the inboard mounting points also
appear to be placed higher, with the exhaust forced to arch over the
top of them, in much the same way the squashed wastegate exhausts
already did last season [8].
The single centrally mounted pillar
used to strengthen the rear wing structure has been retained for 2018
too, although it’s unclear if it still intersects the exhaust, with
it likely combined with the tail end of the engine cover instead.
Mounted either side of the pillar [9], just above the exhaust, the
team have also utilised this free area to mount some simple winglets
[9], something that is likely to increase in complexity as testing
and the season unfolds.
In launch trim the team have returned
to the ‘spoon’ style rear wing [10] favoured in the early phase
of 2017 but seemed to fall from prominence in the latter stages, as
they returned a more conventional wing. With some of the foibles that
caused issues during 2017 ironed out it would appear that they wish
to pursue this more efficient design once more.
Overall the W09 appears to represent a
solid step forward for 2018, resolving some of the inefficiencies of
its predecessors whilst pursuing even more performance for the season
ahead.
Don't forget if you like the content I
create I'm trying to ramp things up for 2018 and will be providing
full car illustrations for most of the field, I'll update these
throughout the season to give a 'story mode' of their development
throughout. You'll be able to follow this by contributing via my
Patreon page - www.Patreon.com/SomersF1
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