Rivals think Mercedes is sandbagging , but it seems clear from the W13 on track that they’re at least not where they’d like to be right now.
Excessive porpoising , moments of huge oversteer and struggles to find consistency in a corner have left them with a different foot in the Bahrain tests.
Hamilton assures that Mercedes is not in a position to win right now. But although they have not yet given a detailed explanation of what their problems are, some last-minute modifications to the car, including the radical solution of cutting out part of the floor structure, have given us some clues as to the real difficulties of the team.
As our exclusive photo (below) shows, taken late on Saturday, Mercedes brought out ‘the saw’ to trim away the lower, innermost sheet of soil, removing part of the bottom edge, in an effort to shift the flow distribution outward. and through the forward section of the flat bottom and into the underside of the floor and diffuser section.
Detail of the Mercedes W13
Their last runs from the last session were also done with the bottom of the W13 sprayed with paraffin, so they could get some visual confirmation of the flow structures and hopefully get more information on the direction they could take to deal with the deleterious effects of the flow. freak.
The decision to cut the floor shows that Mercedes is trying to find a way to get rid of the porpoising problem without having to raise the height so much that it would lose its maximum downforce.
Cutting, refining and even adding detail to certain areas of the ground seems to be the preferred way Mercedes thinks it can get its car into the right window of operation.
Mercedes W13 Floor Comparison
The floor design as a whole is new and forms part of the parts package presented by the team at the start of testing along with its radical sidepod concept.
And, where previously Mercedes had had a more complex wave-like section at the leading edge of the ground, it now appears a bit more simplified (red arrow in image above).
Also, the bottom edge design could be considered simplistic compared to what some of its rivals are carrying, who might be using the geometry, edge wing allowed, and some flex to keep the ground position more stable.
Meanwhile, Mercedes has been forced to add a metal brace, which prevents the entire edge of the floor from flexing too much (blue arrow), whereas in the Ferrari, which you can see below compared to the McLaren, that only has authority over the rear section of the cut and the edge of the spoiler.
Floor comparison of the Ferrari F1-75 and the McLaren MCL36
In recent runs, Mercedes also ran with more angle of attack applied to the car’s front wing (you’ll see below how steep the top wing is in relation to the set points), in an effort to shift the balance of the car forward. and have more impact on the nose.
That seemed to have the effect of making the car a bit more pointed to help eliminate understeer and also raise the rear end a bit, which could help with its porpoising issues.
Detail of the front spoiler of the Mercedes W13
