Thread: James Allen of the new Mercedes W04

James Allen of the new Mercedes W04

Authoritative British expert and columnist James Allen told on the pages of your blog on impressions of the new machine team Mercedes...
James Allen: "Today the team of Mercedes unveiled its new car, which was done serious work, primarily in the area of the cockpit and the control of the temperature. We are yet to see what the reality will be the new front and rear spoiler, but it was clear that Aldo Costa and his men carefully worked details.



Front spoiler

IN Mercedes said machine concept is based on the five-element front wing, although the presentation we saw the same version that was used in Brazil.
Nose fairing has changed, step closed molding, although shown today, the site is very similar to last year - this also applies to the configuration of the wing. Probably over the front part of the machine team while working less likely, but let's see what solutions they will present during the tests.
Changed the geometry of the wheels - front and rear. Seems like Ferrari, they seek to minimize the time for pit-stops and increase the thermal efficiency of the machine as a whole.
The cockpit area

This area has changed dramatically, from the upper intake to the bottom of all brand new and worked better than previous machines of the team. Ross brown said at the presentation that the machine has become much more complicated, it is particularly noticeable.
Interestingly, the air inlet side pontoons have become very narrow. The engine of Mercedes less demanding cooling than motors Renaultbut in the construction W04 engineers chose a very aggressive approach. Below the cockpit is full of new aerodynamic elements forming the air flow around and inside the pontoons. Changed the geometry of the upper air intake - he became more fluent, getting rid of the extra holes.
The team worked seriously on improving the thermal efficiency of the machine, as in hot races of the elements of aerodynamics have to be removed to provide better cooling, which leads to loss of clamping force, especially in the back.
Rear

The rear part has changed and looks neater. The case became more closed, but this may be due to the cooler temperature in Jerez, than in many races of the season, for example in Bahrain. Today the car has left the track with a large number of temperature sensors. Perhaps it will be more effective in hot weather than last year.
This is really important. Lack of effective cooling system commands are forced to open more holes in the back that leads to the loss of aerodynamic stability. Here the opponents had the advantage - this effect is not seriously affect the commands that use motors Renault.
It is important to allow the rear tire to quickly gain a working temperature, and during the race to avoid overheating. In the past year by cars Mercedes tires wore out quickly in the race, and the team focused on solving this problem. Configuration change wheels and other elements will allow you to achieve rapid heating and more efficient aerodynamics will help to reduce wear. Engineers finalized and exhaust system - it uses the Coanda effect, but the optimized shape of the exhaust channels.
Rear spoiler
Shown at the presentation of the rear wing looks interim solution. Standard actuator DRS, end plates are the same as in 2012, although the design of the bottom element has changed.