F1 Bahrain Test - 10-12 March 2022

Ferrari finished third in the WCC last year. Think they will be there again but closer to MB and RB. Long season.

 

People tend to believe gap between teams will be closer this year.
I don’t think so.
Most funny is some observers saying Mercedes is just on top of the midfield pack.
Please come’on !

 

Yep. Mercedes RPM about 5% higher than anyone else, even Merc engined counterparts.

IMO running low speeds but comparable RPM for such conditions to stress test the engine/heat.

The easiest fix for Merc is to raise ride height a bit. Lose some downforce that way but not the end all, be all.

Besides, Red Bull fixed most of their porpoising issue, so why can't Mercedes? We're fools to believe that the team that finished 8x on top in the past 8 years can't fix this by next week. Mercedes will be fighting for pole and win next weekend, if not easily get it.

 

Why wouldn't you fix it in testing as all teams have suffered from this? My guess Mercedes have pushed down an extreme aero avenue that maybe a step too far or its not fully understood.

 

No idea, but been fooled too often now by Mercedes. Every year the car looks undrivable, peoples hopes are up, then first race comes and they obliterate the competition. People always asks the same question, why not fix it? Whatever programme Mercedes keeps running, it works.

 

They have had time to fix issues that have come up in testing. This year the issues appear more significant and they may need more time to assess and implement solution. I dont sense the team has a well sorted car at all yet. Im not upset to see that. Humans make mistakes and mis-calculations. How well can they recover with this concept? Interesting question. Or do they return to something less exotic, more like Ferrari or RedBull configuration.

 

^^ This.

I think—hope is maybe a better word, ha-ha—that it’s a case of the class error of chasing peak downforce at the expense of consistency and ending up with something that is too pitch sensitive. The solution will ultimately be to either raise the ride height or redesign the floor to make it less sensitive but ultimately giving up peak downforce numbers and so performance.

Recall the Lotus 80: after the success of the 79, Chapman went all in with the extreme 80 which, although showing great numbers in the wind tunnel, proved unusable on track. In the meantime Williams did the neat and effective version of the 79, their FW07, and set the standard for grind effects cars off the time. I hope Ferrari built an FW07.

 

This !
Binotto said yesterday to sky Italia that Charles will have a car to show his talent for the first time he’s in Ferrari.
A car easier to drive will do good lap times with this new regulation.
I suspect that Charles way of driving will be perfect for this super F2 car !

 

This was more than 40 years ago.

 

So what do we reckon the pecking order is?
Red Bull, Ferrari then McLaren, then mercedes?


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Q3 will tell us all next Sunday lol

Press think Bull/Ferrari and Mercedes. I think there is a question about Mercedes as 3rd.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/the-photo-that-offers-clues-about-mercedes-f1-troubles/8953338/

The photo that offers clues about Mercedes’ F1 troubles
Lewis Hamilton’s declaration that Mercedes is not in a position to win Formula 1 races at this stage of the season says much about the extent of its testing troubles.
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By: Jonathan Noble
Co-author: Matt Somerfield
Mar 13, 2022, 5:26 AM
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For however much its rivals believe the German car manufacturer is sandbagging, it was clear from observing the W13 on track that it is not in a happy place right now.

The excessive porpoising, lurid oversteer moments and struggles to find consistency through a corner have left it on the back foot.

But while there has been no detailed explanation yet about what its issues are, some late modifications to the car – including the drastic move of cutting away some of its floor structure – have offered us some clues about the team’s difficulties.

As our exclusive photograph (below) shows, late on Saturday Mercedes took the saw to the innermost underfloor strake, removing some of the lower edge, in an effort to change flow distribution out and across the forward section of the floor and into the underfloor and diffuser section.

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Mercedes W13 detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

Their final few runs of the session were also completed with the W13’s underfloor having been doused with flo-viz, in order that it might get some visual confirmation of the competing flow structures and hope that it might provide some further feedback on the direction it might need to take to solve the ill effects that the phenomenon creates.

The move 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 ride height so much that it loses its peak downforce.

Trimming, refining and even adding details to certain areas of the floor appears to be the preferred way that Mercedes feels it can get its car in the right window.

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The floor design, as a whole, is new and part of the package of parts introduced by the team at the beginning of the test alongside its radical sidepod concept.

And, where the team had previously had a more complex wave-like section on the front edge of the floor, it is now a little more simplified (red arrow).

What’s more, the design of the floor's edge could be considered simplistic when compared with some of its rivals, who might be using the geometry, allowable edge wing and some flexion to keep the floor's attitude more stable.

Meanwhile, Mercedes has been forced to add a metal stay, which prevents the entire floor edge from flexing too much (blue arrow), whereas on the Ferrari, below, this only really has authority over the section rear of the cutout and edge wing.

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The last few runs also saw Mercedes run the car with more angle of attack applied on the front wing (you’ll note how steeply inclined the upper flap is relative to the adjustment points), in an effort to shift the car balance forward and put the car more on the nose.

This did seem to have the effect of making the car a little more pointier to help get rid of understeer and also raise the rear a little which could help with its bouncing issues.

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Mercedes W13 front wing detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

 

40 years ago was when we last had ground effect cars and the science still applies—see the porpoising that most teams are experiencing. Extreme solutions need to be tempered in order to make the DF generated more consistent.

 

Maybe their trouble is real, this time. Maybe.

But Mercedes is a team that cried wolf so many times in past pre-season testing and indeed during many GP's over the past 8 years, forgive me for being skeptical...

 

They did say their car was not going to be as good as the 2020 car last year after testing, and that proved to be the case.

it seemed the entire testing sessions this season were spent searching for answers. That Haas set times faster than Merc in Bahrain indicates the field should be much closer together. I think it will be Ferrari vs Red Bull in the first race…then I think it’s wide open after that.

 

Ferrari appear pretty confident, so I’ll take Ferrari alongside Red Bull as the class of the field, currently.

I think it’s wide open after them. Haas, Alfa Romeo, A. Tauri, Alpine….alll ran comparable times to Merc. I don’t think we’ll know the real pecking order until Q2, but I have the real sense Merc may have out-foxed themselves and now they need to figure it out.

Hamilton, imo, is being straightforward…

 

Interestingly they did have the bear time in Barcelona, no?


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Ferrari
Red Bull
Mercedes

 

Car comparisons with the W13....split pictures

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Last year Mercedes won 3 out of 4 first races. After testing they where doing their best selling a story that their car was undrivable.

Every year it's the same story. It does look they have some issues...but:

Boy cried wolf.

 

The original coke bottle rear end was supposed to have reduced aerodynamic drag by about 50 HP.
My guess is that Mercedes side-less pods will save 35 HP of aerodynamic drag on the car once they put in gears long enough to reach top speed.

 

The Ferrari concept is supposed not only to reduce drag but also to create additional downforce too.
This is their biggest technical bet I guess.

 

lettuce hope and pray!

 

Strictly, on top speed Mercedes has a winner here !

But there are other factors to consider too, of course.

The packaging is really impressive.

 

That Ferrari looks heavily pregnant.

When is the birth due ?

 

agreed. Mercedes needs to fix their porpoising effect going forward when it comes to top speed. It's excessive. (porpoising)