Mark Hughes, a technical expert on the championship’s official website, commented on the most characteristic differences between the new Mercedes car and its predecessors.
The W15 unveiled today is clearly different from the two previous models, as the team aims to close the gap with Red Bull Racing that has existed for two years since Formula 1 switched to the current technical regulations.
On the outside of the car, the first thing you notice is the completely different shape of the side pontoons, the new rear suspension, which is based on pushers instead of rods, and the cockpit location that has been shifted slightly to the rear – Lewis Hamilton emphasized that this from the very first moment, when he tested last year’s W14 for the first time.
The changes also affected the area where the new front wing attaches to the nose fairing, as well as the rear wing. The team is trying to increase the car’s maximum speed thanks to a more effective DRS system.
Although it may not be visible from the outside, Brackley built a completely new monocoque and also designed a new gearbox housing to implement a number of changes to the body and underbody design.
According to James Allison, Mercedes technical director, “We paid a lot of attention to improving the car’s performance on the track, as last year’s W14 had an unpredictable rear end. We have put a lot of effort into ensuring that both axles, especially the rear, allow better tire control than the previous chassis.”
Even with the cockpit moved back about 10cm it is still closer to the front axle than on last year’s Red Bull car, but it is hoped that this move will give Hamilton a better feel for what the rear of the car does.
The distance between the front axle and the side pontoons has increased – this makes it possible to better control the behavior of the air flows in the area behind the front wheels.
At the same time, the aerodynamic effect of the upper element of the safety structure, which absorbs impact energy in side impacts, is used slightly differently: if previously it was used to deflect the airflow downwards, to improve the efficiency of the vehicle’s edges enlarge. the bottom, now this element is located differently.
By shifting the cockpit aft, it became possible to make the lower bevel of the side pontoons much smoother, not so sharp – apparently this should increase the energy of the flow running along the bottom, and this is a very important point . All these types of measures are used to optimize the flow under the floor of the car. As usual, changes that affect body parts ultimately serve that exact purpose.
We’ve already seen the push-rod rear suspension on the new Aston Martin car (the Silverstone team gets rear-end components from Mercedes), which was unveiled on Monday. By placing the suspension balancers, which are located under the body panels, slightly higher, aerodynamicists are given the opportunity to better utilize the space around the diffuser and give it an optimal shape. This also improves bottom end efficiency.
The front suspension also uses pushrods, as before.
The team expects a lot from the new car: if the makers’ expectations are met, the W15 could play an important role in changing the balance of power.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
