Formu1a.uno - Analysis: Mercedes W12, not lacking power but aerodynamic efficiency.

PHOTO CREDIT: Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport

It has become a Verstappen show in this 2021 FIA F1 World Championship. At the 2020 'copy-paste' season we never really believed it because of the regulatory changes, once analyzed in detail, were much more important and radical than initially expected.

Being then tied to the 2020 cars, it is clear that those who carried a car with some endemic defects such as Ferrari, could not expect to fight to win the world championship this year; however, there was also the risk that those starting from a very competitive car could lose performance due to a bad adaptation to the regulatory changes. So it was, in the case of Mercedes and Racing Point, now Aston Martin.

In the case of Mercedes, that perfect combination of aerodynamics and mechanics found with the W11 has been broken also thanks to a forward movement of the engine and the pressure center. With further advancement of the latter (the greater aerodynamic load value generated by the single-seater), due to the 2021 regulatory changes, the rear has remained 'decompensated': the W12 thus works in a very small operating window. The setup changes have become rather limited to avoid problems on one or the other axle.

After a third of the world championship, we find ourselves with Verstappen and Red Bull at the top of the world championship. In the last five Grand Prix, the Dutchman recovered an impressive 46 points over Lewis Hamilton, 73 even Red Bull in a Mercedes.

The seven-time world champion entered the second Austrian weekend with good impressions. Unlike the RB16B, the W12 of the Austrian GP was in the same specification as the previous weekend and the improvements could only be found through an optimization of the setup.

The sectors of the Spielberg track: comparing the best sectors of the qualifying in the Styrian GP with those of the Q2 of the Austrian GP.
GRAPHICS CREDIT: Formu1a.uno

Last week Hamilton spent many hours in the Brackley simulator finding 'promising' setups, but which once brought to the track did not give the desired results. For this reason, from FP2, the W12 of Hamilton took a step backward, using the 'basic' set-up of the previous weekend (Styrian GP) that Valtteri Bottas had used in the first hour of practice.

The low temperatures on Friday helped Mercedes get closer to Max Verstappen's RB16B but when the tarmac exceeded 50°C, both W12s failed to extract the maximum from the C5 compound, also paying duty from Lando Norris’ McLaren. They weren't expecting it at Mercedes.

Third front wing in five GPs for Red Bull. New tweaks in the mainplane area, which connects to the 'neutral' part, and to the internal part of the flaps where the important Y250 vortex comes off.
Illustration By - Rosario Giuliana

Max Verstappen instead took to the track with a further updated RB16B: new front wing specification, the third in five races, new bargeboards, and the confirmation of the shark tooth diffuser, also available to Sergio Perez this weekend.

The Dutchman, together with his staff of technicians, opted for a slightly heavier set-up than the one used the previous week to get the C5 compound working at its best in qualifying.

The speeds scored by Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in the points monitored by the FIA ​​in the Styria and Austrian GPs. 
GRAPHICS CREDIT: Formu1a.uno

This allowed the W12 to halve the gap on the straight (just over a tenth), however, the same gap opened up in the corners, thanks to not full exploitation of the C5 compound by Lewis Hamilton's W12. Also interesting is the comparison with the equal an equally powered MCL35M (Mercedes power unit): Hamilton lost almost 5 tenths to Lando Norris on the straight, recovering a couple of them in the corners, with an excellent W12 also in place against Red Bull.

There is no doubt that the car of the world championship team is the one, together with Aston Martin, to have suffered the most from the regulatory changes. In addition to no longer having that perfect combination of aerodynamics and mechanics found with the W11, its important aerodynamic efficiency has also been canceled.

An engineer from a competing team told Formu1a.uno that Mercedes has taken a two-year step back from that point of view, returning to the values ​​of the much 'resistant' (to progress) W10.

We tried to verify this with the imagery available, comparing the rear wings used in the last three seasons in Austria by Mercedes, given that that macro aerodynamic component is one of the heaviest in terms of drag.

Differences in rear wings between the Mercedes of the last three seasons.
PHOTO COMPARISON: Formu1a.uno

The result is a very charged Mercedes at the rear compared to last season. This penalizes the W12 in the straights not only in comparison with Red Bull but also and above all with the McLaren-powered peer.

It is therefore not a question of engine and horsepower as Hamilton would like to believe. An advantage that until the French Grand was in favor of Mercedes, due to the problems manifested by the Japanese PU (Honda) in Bahrain, now solved thanks to the second Honda power unit brought to the Paul Ricard track. According to what has been gathered, the PUs are now very close both in qualifying and in race conditions with a gap quantified by the competitors in the order of 5 HP. According to Ferrari, the advantage is with Mercedes, however, according to Renault, the advantage is with Honda. But little changes given in the very small gap.

Rear aerodynamic downforce further lost by Lewis Hamilton during the Austrian GP: for over half the race there were no less than 30 points missing (the teams measure the aerodynamic load in points), which in Austria are equivalent to 6 tenths per lap initially, to climb then gradually the tyres wear out prematurely. This problem destroyed the aerodynamic balance of his W12, which started to slip and put too much stress on the rear tyres.

The Low Rake setup used by Mercedes and Aston Martin were penalized more by the 2021 regulatory changes.
Illustration By - Rosario Giuliana

"I think it was around lap 30, at the exit of turn 10 [the last corner]," Toto Wolff said. "There is a rather aggressive curb there. We saw that it was not a driving error but a problem with the component that failed ”.

So Hamilton was not only slower, but he also had more tyre wear; this forced Mercedes to make a second pit stop where the mechanics, in addition to the tyre change, also removed 1 degree of front wing to balance the car as the pressure center had moved 'too far forward'.

However, even without this major problem, Verstappen's Red Bull was unstoppable for the seven-time world champion. “I think we would have been satisfied with a second and third place, which was realistically the best we could have gotten; Max's pace was in fact too strong for us." Shovlin said.

The Mercedes W12, as already labeled last week, as a car that is now at the end of its development in its performance and understanding. "We haven't been particularly strong here in general," said the British engineer. “It doesn't show that much towards Red Bull, but from how we were put under pressure by McLaren in the second round. We have not made any real progress here in either race ”.

This is why the upgrade package for Silverstone is highly anticipated as it should help unlock further potential, directly and indirectly, from a car at its peak of understanding and performance. Will it be enough? "We have some new updates for Silverstone, but I don't think they will help us bridge the gap," said a grim Lewis Hamilton in the post-Austria interviews.

At Mercedes, however, they do not give up on defeat, hoping that even the characteristics of the latest tracks on which they raced have shifted the balance of power in the world championships. This is why Silverstone, which has always been a great Mercedes stronghold, does not become an exam only for Ferrari but also and above all for the world champions.

Written By: Piergiuseppe Donadoni

Illustration By: Rosario Giuliana

Original Story: https://www.formu1a.uno/analisi-mercedes-w12-non-manca-potenza-ma-efficienza-aerodinamica/

Formu1a.uno - Analysis: this is how Red Bull turned the World Championship upside down.

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool

May 9, 2021: Spanish GP was the last Mercedes win with Lewis Hamilton. From then on, four consecutive victories for Red Bull: Monaco, Baku, Paul Ricard, and Austria 1.

The latter is “the most dominant of the year”, according to Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner. Verstappen's advantage in the drivers' championship does not say everything because it is true but up to a certain point: in fact, it could have been higher. The Dutchman could have won in Bahrain and very calmly finished ahead in Baku.

Lewis apparently seems to be extracting maximum performance from what he has. A little. And while it is a merit, at the same time it is worrying because it doesn't seem enough. 

The Red Bull Ring is always an important benchmark. On a track like this, with three DRS zones, if you can keep your competitor out of these, it means you have more. And the RB16B actually had more all weekend. When Hamilton came into the pits for his second stop, which is useful to take the fastest lap and the extra point, his delay was nearly 18 seconds, a gap/space of two and a half tenths per lap. Real.

In just over a month, Red Bull overturned the world championships, with what is to be considered in all respects a decisive 'world' acceleration.

How? Thanks to some aerodynamic updates brought to the track in the last GPs, which also made it possible to fully exploit the potential of the Portimao package, and to the recovery in terms of power, thanks to the PU number 2 introduced in the French GP by Honda.  

But let's take a step back, analyzing how Spielberg's domination came about for a world championship that is to be divided so far into two parts. The first, of continuous growth for the Mercedes team coupled with too many difficulties for Red Bull. The second, after the Spanish GP, with the decisive increase in performance (especially in the race) of the RB16B associated with a W12 instead of more 'development'.

We started in Bahrain with the belief that Red Bull could finally oust Mercedes from the role of the undisputed queen of F1, dictated by dominated pre-season tests. At least partially, so it was, even if the victory of the Grand Prix went to Lewis Hamilton.

However, in Sahkir some critical issues had emerged with the Honda power unit, which we had already talked about. Vibration problems had in fact resulted in the replacement of some electronic components (battery and control unit) on the cars of Perez, Gasly, and Tsunoda as well as requiring a less aggressive use of the hybrid part of the Japanese unit, which caused the RB16B to lose performance.

This, coupled with the small leap forward made by Mercedes with its power unit at Imola, had opened a slight gap in engine performance between the German power unit and Honda. Well compensated in qualifying by better use of the tyres by the Anglo-Austrian car, unlike the W12.

Thanks to a more efficient diffuser, Red Bull are able to use the spoon wing already brought to the track in Baku (V2) at the Paul Ricard.

In Portimao, Red Bull arrives with an important package of updates, which sees the implementation of new flow diverters and adjustments to the bottom and to the diffuser; the desired results are not seen. The same goes for the following weekend, in Barcelona.

The performance of the W12, on the other hand,  continues to grow so much that in the Spanish GP we witness what was to be considered as a real performance overtaking.

The steps of the world champion team went through an intrinsic improvement of the car. An attempt was made to better understand the car and to find that correct balance between the front and rear axles, undermined by the 2021 regulatory innovations and, not least, by the abolition of the DAS which allowed the W11 to quickly have the front wheels up to temperature.

While Red Bull, more in place right from the start, was trying to get performance through updates that were not giving the expected performance improvements on the track.

In Spain, Red Bull Racing enters with a high-downforce rear wing to protect the rear tyres. However, the lack of horsepower of the Honda power unit does not allow him to keep it for qualifying and race. Too much time lost on the forehand against the W12s due to an underperforming PU compared to the Mercedes one and a high-rake set-up that intrinsically increases the aerodynamic resistance of the car.

From the FP3s, the engineers, therefore, decided to use a lighter, spoon-shaped wing on both RB16Bs, however, causing a crisis in the management of temperatures on the rear axle. Mercedes dominates.

Between Monte Carlo and Baku, Red Bull has worked hard on updating its front wing. In the illustration, the specification at the beginning of the year (Old Spec) was compared with the one brought to the track in Azerbaijan (New Spec).

However, in the following GPs, the turning point arrives: two updates to the front wings, brought between Monaco and Baku, coupled with a novelty to the diffuser (only partial in Monaco, complete only in Styria), allow Red Bull to find a lot of 'efficient' downforce at the rear, opening that window of operation and setup that was the real weakness of the RB16B compared to the W12.

The novelties to the diffuser brought to the track by Red Bull between Monte Carlo and the Styrian GP concern the outter profile. First only partially, then along the entire length, having a sawtooth profile, according to the engineers of the Anglo-Austrian team, allows increasing the efficiency of use of the rake set-up.

News used immediately by Max Verstappen while Checo Perez is granted only in subsequent GPs if evaluated positively in terms of costs/benefits since the budget cap issue is anything but simple to manage.

Thus, while Mercedes is forced to use the rears more, adding drag to the W12, Red Bull manages to enter the French GP weekend with a rather minimal spoon wing, finding an optimal 'balance' for minimizing tyre problems on a very complicated track, especially on race day.

Over the weekend were Honda, thanks to the introduction of its second power unit, solved those annoying problems that had limited its performance for 5 Grand Prix.

From the GPS data, the engine performance of the RB16B returned to that of Bahrain, slightly ahead of Mercedes. Ferrari followed, with Renault closing the engine performance ranking to date. All grouped in 25 horsepower, no more, according to what was collected.

The (small) advantage of PU alone does not justify the important advantage in the straights of the RB16B. In between there is also the greater aerodynamic efficiency, which allows Red Bull to be able to use much less 'draggy' rear wings.

Returning to the horsepower increase of Honda power unit 2, according to Red Bull the step forward is to be found in the new oil specification that ExxonMobil has brought to the track: “We have new oil, so I think Exxon should take all the credit for the steps forward Lewis indicated. From the point of view of the engines, they are homologated, and the second unit is the same specification as the first ”.

We remind you that engineers are allowed to make changes to their power units to solve reliability problems.

All this while Mercedes is reaching its 'maximum' understanding of the W12, a car that has now been praised in terms of performance.

Lewis Hamilton understood this too. Hence his important outburst in the post-Styrian Grand Prix: "Red Bull continues to make improvements and it is clear that it has made many in recent races. It is currently impossible for us to keep up with them. Even in the long runs, they are better. They continue to make fast laps one after the other and on the straight, we lose a lot." claimed the seven-time world champion.

The Low Rake set-up used by Mercedes and Aston Martin was penalized the most by the 2021 regulatory changes.

He then continued, getting to the point: "We need updates of some kind, I don't know where, rear wing, engine or any other component, but we certainly have to make up for the ground we have lost".

An appeal to the 'wind' as Mercedes are already fully oriented towards 2022 and no major update is expected in the next Grand Prix, but only minor aerodynamic updates and in terms of exploitation of the power unit.

We await a few more GPs, but the road seems to be drawn. Tyres permitting.

Author: Piergiuseppe Donadoni

Co-author: Giuliano Duchessa

Illustrations: Rosario Giuliana

Original Story Link: https://www.formu1a.uno/analisi-ecco-come-red-bull-ha-ribaltato-i-mondiali/

Formu1a.uno - Ferrari, the race pace did not disappear.

PHOTO CREDIT: Scuderia Ferrari

There is more and more margin between the Verstappen-Hamilton duo and the rest of the world. As always, when there is a very strong fight for the championship, the two title protagonists receive maximum support and tend to distance themselves from their teammates as well.

A gap that could expand further in the championship, also thanks to the total freezing of the others in view of 2022. It will not be surprising, as long as the championship is alive we will have other races with many dubbed.

Yesterday only the top four completed all the laps, but the fact that we ran on the shortest track of the year in terms of time should not be underestimated.

Max won effortlessly, Hamilton's difficulties were already quite evident on Saturday with the rear tending to slide. Little protection on the rear, with a more qualifying-oriented set-up, where Mercedes had to recover against Red Bull.  But in the race he didn't give the expected results, Toto Wolff admitted it too. The very hot conditions certainly didn't help. Only the rain would have narrowed the gap a little, reducing the importance of the rear to the advantage of the front axle.

The optimization and understanding of the W12 is no longer enough, which now looks like a car at its 'maximum'. To date clearly inferior to that of the RB16B, which has grown in recent events thanks to the understanding of the many updates brought to the track, including two versions of front wings (Monaco and Baku), more tweaks to the diffuser, and the leap forward in terms of use of the power unit from the French GP.

This was not lost on the competitors, Mercedes, and Ferrari, who clearly noticed it. According to Red Bull, a new oil specification has increased the horsepower of Honda's #2 unit, which is the same spec from the start of the season given the freeze in terms of updates.

As for the oil, an update between the end of the 2020 and 2021 seasons was granted.

Verstappen has won an important race and goes 18 points up on the defending champion while RedBull has stretched away in the constructors: the fourth win in a row is a very big sign.

In the meantime, it should also be remembered that with the introduction of the technical directive on Flexi Wings, RedBull showed no signs of weakness on the straight that some were afraid to see. But that may have been well 'absorbed' by the performance boost of the Honda PU. However, it could have reliability as its weak point.

Mercedes is very confident in this. It is not for nothing that they put pressure on the 'flexi wings' in order to also affect Honda. Forcing them to push even further was their goal.

Ferrari has shown itself in good shape and does not eat the tyres as some believe or would have us believe.

What is certain is that Ferrari has lost many, too many points since the start of the season.  Also this weekend at the Styrian GP.

Despite the clearly duller qualifying than usual, the SF21 was certainly able to finish further up the standings (P5 and P7), certainly in full battle with Norris. The Lando himself confirmed this: "Without the problem Leclerc had, he would have been in front of us, or at least it would have been a great threat".

Leclerc's contact with Gasly, avoidable by the Monegasque, is just an episode between bad luck and negligence that is added to others.

Unlike Paul Ricard, Ferrari chose a very loaded (higher downforce) setup at Spielberg: a configuration similar in some ways to the one used with the SF90.  However, two years ago the Maranello car could amply afford a lot more drag on the straights.

The SF21 is much better than the SF1000 in almost everything, so even in terms of aerodynamic efficiency, but it still pays HP from rivals and its own 2019 power unit. Which is saying something. Nonetheless, the average race pace was very convincing since Friday when there was still little grip.

With increasing grip, things have also improved, with no signs of overheating, obviously maintaining the problem of straight-line speed under the same conditions. That is, in qualifying, when all the cars can open the DRS at the same time but in the race it is different.  With no trains with open DRSs for many, the SF21 passed pretty smoothly just about every car except Red Bull and Mercedes.

It would have been difficult to pass Lando's McLaren but Leclerc, with the race without significant traffic, would have finished 49 seconds behind Verstappen according to what we collected. Carlos Sainz, more penalized by the starting position, gained a lot: 5 positions over Gasly.

Unlike Portimão, Paul Ricard, or certain stages in Baku, the SF21 activated the tyres correctly in all conditions.

It is quite evident that the problems (not easy to solve because they depend on a front which is that of the SF1000) arise when the characteristics of the track favor the protection of the front tyres combined with low grip.

We have now entered the week of the Austrian GP, ​​which will be raced on softer compounds (the compound for qualifying will be the C5) and with a goal at Ferrari: try to make some steps forward on Saturday...  Which will then be the work that drivers and engineers will carry out in the next few hours to understand if it will be worthwhile on Friday to make a set-up comparison, bringing the spoon wing seen at Paul Ricard back to the track or whether to confirm the macro setup used in this positive weekend...

We have a very interesting week ahead of us for other reasons as well.

Pirelli will propose sets of new updated rear tyres that the teams will test in free practice. It is clear that such a change can only produce effects, starting with Silverstone, the GP in which the Federation would like to introduce them.

Pirelli received a request for willingness to introduce safer tyres directly from the FIA. For this, no vote will be needed but only FIA and Pirelli, obviously hearing the opinions of the teams, will decide whether to introduce them. The odds to date are still very high, given what has been collected.

What are the effects? It is difficult to predict. But to put it to Wolff, "this year we take everything that can be a 'bet' as we have to make up ground".

It should be considered that the traction phase heavily penalized by aerodynamic limitations seemed to be a fundamental key to finding performance. This despite the fact that even in this appointment the loss of performance compared to 2020 should be highlighted. With the same compounds, we always find ourselves with cars far from the pace of a year ago. Red Bull gained seven-tenths of an average pace over Mercedes, taking the lead by 0.2 seconds.

Ferrari does not mind - on paper - an even stiffer rear tyre, which may also have to force the opponents to implement the relative load to manage the setup and activate the rear tyres. In this sense, the Ferrari would seem to lack that middle configuration that others: McLaren and AlphaTauri in addition to Red Bull, have genetically available.

 If this were true, the margin on the obverse could become thinner in certain contexts.

 In a few days, there will be a sort of replay that promises to be very interesting for everyone.

Article Written By: Giuliano Duchessa and Piergiuseppe Donadoni from Formu1a.uno

Original Link In Italian: https://www.formu1a.uno/ferrari-il-passo-gara-non-era-scomparso/