The Mercedes team had something of a false dawn at the Miami GP, where they led the day on Friday thanks to some improvements.
But as the weekend progressed, Mercedes was unable to recapture that performance and again fell back to midfield rather than being able to contend with Ferrari and Red Bull.
What Mercedes now needs to understand is whether that Friday was an isolated case or whether the rest of the weekend underperformed what it could have.
One factor that seemed to have affected Mercedes on Friday was that its tire warm-up problems were masked by track temperatures and a lack of rubber on the new tarmac. This helped the team to find a sweet spot during Friday’s session, something that they did not achieve on Saturday, when the grip increased and the track evolved.
Although Mercedes made some set-up changes between Friday and Saturday, in a bid to get more performance, their performance roller-coaster ride has at least confirmed to the team that the problems with their W13 are not entirely aerodynamic in nature.
In fact, the harmful effects posed by porpoising are just one of the pieces of the puzzle that the German manufacturer must solve to get the best out of the W13.
Mercedes introduced a handful of new components for the Miami GP in an attempt to increase performance and meet the demands of the new track. While they are struggling to work out the car’s problems, the team’s design ingenuity hasn’t gone away, as their new front wing design is by far the most unique interpretation of the new rules we’ve seen yet.
Mercedes’ paradigm shift with its new spoiler
Until now, most teams have followed the same line regarding the design of the front wing elements and endplate junction, and all concepts were very similar to those presented by FOM before the season started.
The rules in that area of the car were deliberately formulated to work in conjunction with the less complex 18-inch wheels, lower profile tires, wheel covers and brake line designs to reduce the amount of outwash effect that was produced with the previous regulation.
However, Mercedes’ approach represents a new paradigm, as the changes they made are likely to be responsible for a considerable change in the behavior of the local airflow, which, in turn, will affect the wake created by the front tyre.
Mercedes W13 endplate comparison
To facilitate that, the design of the winglets at the outboard end of the wing has been completely redesigned, resulting in the leading edge of the mainplane being angled upwards and the chord length being shortened significantly.
It has also allowed the three rear flaps to be positioned further forward on the endplate when viewed from the side, requiring them to be moved forward quite aggressively.
That also results in unwinding the tight radius at the junction between the fins and the endplate. That has been replaced by angular surfaces.
All of these changes lead to an edge being exposed on the endplate that would otherwise be connected to the fins, not only creating a path for airflow to emerge earlier, but also at a higher point.
Componente interno del endplate del Mercedes W13
Interestingly, there are also sections on the upper fins that have feather-like grooves ( red arrow ) that will likely produce a collection of smaller vortices that will help control the central vortex that is generated at the intersection of the fin and the endplate.
You will see that they are using metal to strengthen the outer swept section of the top two fins to help manage the associated loads.
The changes found to the front of the car weren’t the only ones made by the team for Miami, as they also overhauled its rear wing.
However, the design was not specific to the Miami circuit, as they had already been looking at ways to change downforce levels over the course of the last few races, adding and removing a Gurney flap from the trailing edge and trimming the top fin to alter the load that is generated and with it, also the drag (previous spec box, below, with dotted line showing how much of the top flap had been cut off).
Comparison of the rear wing of the Mercedes W13 at the Miami GP
The redesign of the aileron not only featured a revised upper flap, but also the upward leading edge of the mainplane was discarded, while the design takes up less space within the allowed section, as can also be noted by the corner radius more open where you are. with the endplate (blue arrows).
They have also made changes to help reduce the power of the beam wing, as the trailing edge of the top element has been trimmed to reduce that element’s chord length (red arrow).
