I just heard a very interesting rumor. Mercedes have possibly tied something to do with their front wing f-duct to the DRS at the back essentially changing the front wing flow when DRS is activated. IF this is true, the balance of the car with DRS activated would be greatly increased as one of the biggest complaints about DRS is that it completely upsets the front end balance. What this means very possibly is Mercedes will be able to use the DRS for much greater distances in qualifying as well as run a lower front static ride height and lastly they will be able to shut the DRS off later than anyone else (typically driver shut DRS off when nearing a corner where they know the downforce is needed so they can have better brake balance).
Woooah, this is a brilliant concept. Would be cool to see it work...and Ferrari steal it and win the championship.
Who's complained about it? I'm pretty sure I haven't seen any drivers saying that. Kimi (of course ) got it about right; "I think so DRS is simple, you push a button and you go faster...." As for upsetting the balance, it really doesn't matter on the straights. Sure, the rear end is going to be *very* light, but that's no big deal in a straight line. I'm pretty sure it's connected to the brake pedal - As soon as he touches the pedal it closes. I haven't checked but believe it's mandated that way in the regulations. (?) Cheers, Ian
Hammy doth protest too much about getting squeezed. I am amazed at that and thank God no one was exiting the pits.... [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo971KDXsbI[/ame]
Indeed; You mean this; I already (respectfully I hope ) threw the BS flag on the other "assumptions" - Same here IMO - Even in quali, the ass is gonna get away from 'em if they "deploy" it too soon - They've gotta be going straight before they go faster. (IMO) Then they've gotta shut it down when they hit the brakes. Trick aero doesn't change that. (Again, IMO) Cheers, Ian
Well, I know SFA, but surely if you can reduce drag at both ends in the DRS zones (or anywhere, during qual) without compromising downforce through corners, there would have to be an advantage....plus maybe some high speed corners where open drs is downforce enough, so the balance would help there too, surely? Does that make sense? It does to me....lol
But he didn't protest, "that's racing" [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alw-JP7oj_Y&feature=related[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nHzVjQP1hU[/ame]
Considering the position they were fighting over, it was bordering on madman tactics. MS ruthless or desperate, take ya pick.
I wish all of McHam's post race comments were as cool and reflective. He's a phenomenal racer and I believe Jenson's past season was quite possibly exactly what he needs to evolve into a driver using abilities beyond innate talent. Shame about Nicole returning to the fold, that doesn't bode well for him this season. I view clips of the Geezer pushing those faster than himself into a game of 'cross this line' as an attempt to maintain his signature these days. De Cesaris and Bonnier, to name a few, drove similarly when their careers were nearing a close, although why Shoe believes he needs to pec flex after his career is anyone's guess. Leopard and spots I suppose....
I have confidence he'll shine if that's the case. I know, quite the shocking admission coming from me .
You've done some growing in the off season Grasshopper Mike has lost some raw speed over the years (witness his qualifying) but gained racecraft? that has helped him during races. Nico still has raw speed but needs better racecraft. It's more likely that Nico will improve than Mike will.
+1 He always used dirty driving. He didn't even blink to squeeze his own brother into the wall or his own team mate. Now it just got more desperate and he drives into other people trying to pass them. He got better compared to where he started when he did his comeback. He is still a far cry off his former glory from ten years ago when he was actually fast.
With 7 World Championships under his belt and multi-Millions in the bank there's far less incentive to take the sort of risks that he used to (running others off the track asides - old habits and all that!) These day's it's more about the fun of driving an F1 car than the outright "win at all costs" that it used to be, as I see it. These days he's far more relaxed and much more approachable. In short, he's mellowed with age!
Really? Then how come he almost got himself and Barrichello killed in a desperate attempt in Hungary (see post #233 below)? And that's just one of many incidents he had since his comeback.
I covered that with: Another quote would be about: Leopards, spots etc,.etc. Okay, look at the Barrichello incident: At the last second Schumacher swerved away from Barrichello just as Barichello was about to eat the wall. In the old days Schuey would never have swerved away! Like I say: He's mellowed!
Firstly, why has yet another thread devolved into a Schu/Phil/McHam bash fest? It was supposed to be about the W03..... Anyway, As is the case with virtually all of us here Some comments/opinions are more, shall we say, "informed" than others, but at the end of the day we're all sitting in the peanut gallery without any true insights. Lots of opinions, some spouted via a secondary orifice IMHO, but opinions none the less...... My emphasis added....... Seriously, I understand what you're getting at, and left to their own devices I'm sure we'd see "infinitely adjustable" aero solutions - The computers set both front & rear wings to the "optimum" on a turn by turn basis and dial it out entering straights. [Would be pretty cool IMO, but would further reduce the importance of the jockey.] The problem (my 02c! ) today is the DRS is binary, and the loss of downforce when deployed is relatively huge - A car set up for, eg, 130R with DRS closed would be undriveable and spin into the weeds if it were open for example. OK, so set it up to handle it when deployed - Then when it closes lose top speed. I do like the idea of somehow "linking" the front & rear aero packages so the all important "balance" is maintained. Would give 'em the "best of all worlds" by being able to add downforce when needed and lose it otherwise - *IF* that's what Merc are doing then more power to 'em. Cheers, Ian
Here's a more specific approach. At Melbourne for instance, DRS is used during qualifying 56% of the lap. DRS *could* be used during other areas of the circuit if the front end were more balanced to the rear end. For instance DRS is used while flat out at Suzuka's 130R. Many tracks will have turns where engineers already know DRS cannot be used due to too much front end bite. So I'm sure the goal is for Mercedes to go from running DRs up from 56% of the time to say 66% of the time or whatever metric they decide depending on which turn or turns they are trying to knock the car around with DRS open when it were normally closed
