Any F1 fans? - "Mercedes W11 reached a level of downforce never before seen in F1"

[Strychnine]

I mean, everyone knows MB has nailed the aero package (when leading, not in dirty air), but this kind of explains Hamilton's shredded tire drama.

The Mercedes W11 reached a level of downforce never before achieved in Formula 1 history!

As we have seen in recent years, the aerodynamic evolution of Formula 1 cars during the hybrid era has been incredible, so much so that Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes W11 reached 3,000kg (6,614 lbs) of vertical thrust while passing Copse (Silverstone's T9) at around 276 km/h (171.5 mph), which is an increase of around 65% over the last 7 years. The 2014 Red Bull went through that point at 37km/h (148.5 mph) less, with a figure of around 1850kg (4,078 lbs).


Now we understand much better why Pirelli has decided to introduce robust tyres in 2021, to avoid cases like the British GP.

Moreover, according to the latest reports from Brackley, the new Mercedes W12 is already showing better data than the W11, despite the 10% downforce cut for 2021, although we'll have to wait to see it on track!

FWIW, the car weighs 746 kg (1,645 lbs), so that's 402% downforce

[Trip McNeely]

Guess they learned their lesson from LeMans.

[Strychnine]

Guess they learned their lesson from LeMans.

LMAO, yeah, that was a bad day for MB. Two CLRs flipped three times that weekend. That vid is Dumbreck's famous shitshow, but Mark Webber did also a backflip in his CLR TWICE that weekend. Not a double backflip, but once in a practice session and again in warmup.

First time:

The real injury came when I realised the team didn’t believe my version of what had happened. Their response? ‘No, that couldn’t happen, the car couldn’t possibly flip end over end.’

How could they dismiss my explanation of events so lightly? We looked at the data and they knew the car had taken off, but there was no evidence in the form of footage or even still photographs. There was just a bent car and what I said — although Biela confirmed he had seen the bottom of my car as I went up.

I took part in a question and answer session with the press and said yes, maybe the two cars did get a little bit close, but because no one from the team saw anything — no photos, no TV — it just hadn’t registered, which meant it was easily swept under the carpet

Second time:

Two thoughts went through my head. The first was for the team: what the f*** were those guys doing, giving me a car like this? And then: ‘There’s no way I can be that jammy again; I don’t want any pain, I want it to be over quick.

The first thing the team manager said to him was, literally, "What are you doing to our cars?" which is when he vowed to never drive sportscars again, but...

The Dumbreck crash happened during the race, so Webber was in the garage watching (obviously... his car was fucked after flipping twice). After his crashes he was trying to tell them team the car was unsafe and they didn't believe him, so when Peter went off into the trees supposedly Webber was yelling "You killed him!" at everyone in the garage.






Backstory - in earlier practice sessions they snapped a front wishbone on the second Mulsanne chicane, then decided to go with less downforce and make up time on the straights.

[bird_dog0347]

I didn't watch much this past year, honestly it's gotten boring over the last 4-5 years with Merc killing everyone and Ferrari screwing around...

[Strychnine]

Ferrari screwing around...

"If you don't cheat, you look like an idiot; if you cheat and don't get caught, you look like a hero; if you cheat and get caught, you look like a dope."
- Darrell Waltrip

[svauto-erotic855]

I'll have to drag out a textbook to be sure but I don't think the increase in cornering is directly linear the amount of downforce; by that I mean there is diminishing returns. I wonder if they're able to achieve this level of downforce without massive amounts of drag.

I have an XR that makes serious power and in calm weather can go slightly more than 200 miles per hour. If I throw a Cosworth wing on the back of it the car will barely go 170 but the back end feels glued to the ground.

[BP]

I didn't watch much this past year, honestly it's gotten boring over the last 4-5 years with Merc killing everyone and Ferrari screwing around...

Hamilton technically hasn't signed a contract yet and I think Ferrari upgraded quite a bit with Sainz over Vettel. They still aren't going to have the power to run with Mercedes but one of their cars is going to finish a lot more races at least.

For me it's fun watching the Russell, Norris, Albon relationships. They basically grew up together worshipping Hamilton but all took different paths and they are brutal with the smack talk.

We have the WWE style villain this year too with Mazepin. I'm sad that he's on the "American" team but having Mick Shumacher helps take some of that sting away. To bad they'll completely suck since Haas also has the least amount of money and runs the shit Ferrari engines.

No clue what's going to happen with Alpine since Cyril left but Alonso is back, he's going to win some races.

[Strychnine]

I wonder if they're able to achieve this level of downforce without massive amounts of drag.

McLaren tried to make a "two in one" setup with the F-Duct on Jenson Button's car a decade ago.
Quick summary if you're not familiar - they took what was basically a high-ish downforce car and made an internal duct that started at the front, went along the inside of the cockpit and up behind the driver's head. Iside the cockpit and there was an opening there that the driver could cover or uncover with his knee. Move knee to open the duct and no air passes out the back exit... high downforce. Put the knee over the hole to force air through the entire duct and out the back... well the exit of the duct was designed to stall the rear wing which would cut downforce, essentially giving them the low drag for straights.

They tweaked it throughout the season, moving it so it was elbow controlled, etc, and then Sauber tried it also, but it never really paid off and then it was banned.







Back to the original post thought...
Low drag tracks:
Monza - 84% full throttle
Spa - 70% full throttle

High downforce tracks:
Monaco - 34% full throttle
Singapore - 49% full throttle

And then there's Silverstone. It's a max downforce track, but also ~70% is taken at full throttle. Copse, Maggots & Becketts... these are WOT 5.5-G corners where downforce and speed are needed at the same time - extra hard on the LF tire.

[Gasser64]

Be a lot more interesting if they were allowed to engineer the cars to go as fast as they possibly could. Get rid of all the restrictions. Then I'd watch

[svauto-erotic855]

Be a lot more interesting if they were allowed to engineer the cars to go as fast as they possibly could. Get rid of all the restrictions. Then I'd watch

I suspect the first thing you would see is an even more widespread use of exotic materials that are off the charts expensive. Switching from an aluminum hub, brake caliper, and upright to beryllium would save a huge amount of un-sprung weight but would cost a couple of hundred grand per corner.

FYI; I studied the use of beryllium or beryllium alloys to replace aluminum in Aerospace applications extensively while in college.

[juiceweezl]

I suspect the first thing you would see is an even more widespread use of exotic materials that are off the charts expensive. Switching from an aluminum hub, brake caliper, and upright to beryllium would save a huge amount of un-sprung weight but would cost a couple of hundred grand per corner.

FYI; I studied the use of beryllium or beryllium alloys to replace aluminum in Aerospace applications extensively while in college.

Don't forget your work on the flux capacitor!

[The King]

FYI; I studied the use of beryllium or beryllium alloys to replace aluminum in Aerospace applications extensively while in college.

Before, during, or after law school?

[68RR]

"FYI; I studied the use of beryllium or beryllium alloys to replace aluminum in Aerospace applications extensively while in college."

Did you learn how lethal that shit is???

[Craizie]

"FYI; I studied the use of beryllium or beryllium alloys to replace aluminum in Aerospace applications extensively while in college."

Did you learn how lethal that shit is???

Not lethel at all if you coat it in a nickle-boron-out-my-ass.

[svauto-erotic855]

Don't forget your work on the flux capacitor!

For my XR? It has a stroker Pino engine that puts about 580 to the wheels on a good day. No flux capacitor needed. It's also the one that Nay Nay keeps bringing up in post.

Before, during, or after law school?

Way before. I also didn't stick with Law School, one semester and I was done.

"FYI; I studied the use of beryllium or beryllium alloys to replace aluminum in Aerospace applications extensively while in college."

Did you learn how lethal that shit is???

It is carcinogenic, as well as toxic and requires very special techniques for machining. Investment casting of precision shapes that require little machining is the way to go. Tooling cost it's also incredibly expensive when working with this material.