2. Engine – Mercedes had a unique design that neither Ferrari nor Renault had. They had a split turbo engine design where the compressor and the exhaust outlet were actually in separate parts of the power unit now in essence. To put it in simpler terms, it improves everything.
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Contents
Why did Mercedes start dominating F1?
THEIR dominant display at the Australian Grand Prix showed that the Mercedes team still holds a tight grip on the top spot in the world of Formula 1. In a sport as competitive and technologically advanced as F1, the team has achieved an incredible feat.
Mercedes has not just found a significant performance advantage over its rivals, but also maintained it through an entire season and into a new year. Here is how they did it. COMEBACK: ALONSO NEARLY FIT TO RETURN TO F1 GONE: GERMAN GP AXED FROM 2015 F1 CALENDAR MASSIVE: RED BULL REVEALS HORSEPOWER DEFICIT GALLERY: THE MERCEDES W06 HYBRID Ross Brawn.
Source: Getty Images THEY USED BRAINS AND BRAWN The architect of the Mercedes team’s dominance is the same man that led Ferrari’s golden era in the early 2000s. Ross Brawn became team principal of the Mercedes squad back in 2008 when it was still owned by Honda, and bought the team on the eve of the 2009 season after the Japanese manufacturer’s late decision to pull out of F1.
It’s history now that Brawn’s squad, named Brawn GP, ran roughshod over the 2009 season on their way to both the Drivers’ and the Constructors’ World Championships. Their success came in no small part through the team’s decision in early 2008 to starting designing a car that was the perfect answer to the raft of new regulations introduced for 2009.
Brawn then sold the title-winning team to Mercedes at the end of the season. Fast forward to 2011, when the FIA locked in plans for F1 to adopt hybrid 1.6-litre turbocharged engines for the 2014 season. Brawn was once again on the front foot when it came to being prepared for the new world order.
Though he left the squad before the 2014 season even started, it was the Englishman laid the groundwork for the success that lay ahead. Hamilton and Rosberg race into the lead at Sepang last year. Source: Getty Images THEY GOT IT RIGHT FIRST TIME The seeds of Mercedes’ dominance were sown way back in 2011.
Facing a new era where the power unit — the engine plus its hybrid, energy-recovering components — would play a big role in an F1 car’s performance, Brawn’s team had a significant advantage. Mercedes builds both its own chassis and its own engine, making it easier for both sides to work together to develop the best possible solution.
- Only Ferrari would have a similar opportunity, and they were unable to capitalise on it.
- Virtually from the moment the new rules were announced, Brawn set aside a team of staff dedicated to solving the 2014 puzzle.
- Geoff Willis, a former Williams, Honda and Red Bull man, was hired in late 2011 to lead the planning group.
“(Willis) paid little or no attention to the cars racing in the 2011, 2012 and 2013 seasons,” writes James Allen, “focusing only on packaging the hybrid turbo power unit into the 2014 chassis.” Mercedes corporate also invested heavily into the team’s engine department, the knowledge learnt also making its way back into the company’s road cars.
POSTURING?: RED BULL THREATENS TO QUIT FORMULA 1 SHOTS FIRED: MERCEDES TO RIVALS, ‘STOP MOANING, WORK HARDER’ “Crucially since F1 introduced KERS for the 2009 season, Brixworth (where the team’s engine department is based) had become quite a centre for excellence within the Mercedes family for hybrid technology and battery storage.
They won internal contracts such as the SLS E Cell project, which is an electric super car,” Allen adds. “When the hybrid turbo rules were confirmed for 2014, Mercedes opened the investment tap and the team at Brixworth went to work to scope out and plan the best possible architecture and ideas for the 2014 power unit.” What Willis, the team at Brixworth, and the chassis design team led by Aldo Costa produced was a car that was both reliable and fast out of the box.
- The Mercedes team logged 50 more laps at that first test than any of their rivals, while Mercedes-engined cars logged more than double the number of laps of any of their rivals.
- The added track time allowed them to work on making the car even faster, rather than working out why it wasn’t running at all.
The Mercedes-Benz PU106A engine, the best engine in F1 at the moment. Source: Supplied THEY THOUGHT OUTSIDE THE BOX Not only was Mercedes’ car and engine package reliable, its power unit was vastly different to Ferrari’s and Renault’s units in one key area.
Mercedes split their turbocharger in half, putting the intake turbine and the compressor at opposite ends of the engine and connecting them with a long shaft. The tweak was first revealed by Motor Sport magazine’s Mark Hughes, whose story hit news stands soon after the team had sewn up victories in Australia and Malaysia.
But the radical layout wasn’t just about boosting horsepower. It was about boosting performance overall. The split system doesn’t require anywhere near as much cooling as a traditional setup would, allowing for a much smaller intercooler in the car’s sidepod, meaning the Mercedes much smaller and more aerodynamically efficient sidepod.
- The setup also made for a more responsive engine, more power from the Energy Recovery Systems, better fuel efficiency, plus a better centre of gravity than either Ferrari or Renault could achieve.
- Although the other Mercedes-powered teams shared the same advantages, only the Mercedes team, who developed the concept in its entirety, was able to design a chassis that fully exploited the benefits.
On average across all 19 races of last year’s championship, the Mercedes were six tenths of a second faster than anyone else in qualifying, and almost 19 seconds faster over a race distance. That is light-years in F1 terms. THEY LET THEIR DRIVERS RACE Competition improves the breed, goes the old saying.
Mercedes followed this dictum by allowing its drivers to race each other for victory. Historically, teams that carry a performance advantage over their rivals have preferred their drivers not to fight each other. For instance, at the height of McLaren’s dominant phase in the late 1980s Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost had an agreement that the man who reached the first corner first would win the race.
Mercedes instead prefers to let the evenly-matched Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg fight it out among themselves. Where possible, they are allowed to adopt differing tyre and pitstop strategies to try and outfox each other. The net result is that both drivers push flat out from the moment the red lights go out until the chequered flag drops; there is no cruising and collecting despite their clear speed advantage over the rest of the field.
It is a strategy that has only really let the team down once, albeit spectacularly so at Spa last year where Rosberg and Hamilton collided and cost the team a certain victory. When it does work it ensures the drivers are maximising the performance of the cars, putting as big a margin into their rivals as possible.
THEY HAVEN’T STOOD STILL The European winter traditionally offers F1 teams a chance to regroup and reboot, to learn from the problems of the year before and come out in the new season fighting fit. Both Ferrari and Renault hoped they would be able to eat away some of Mercedes advantage ahead of the 2015 season.
Instead, they are just as far behind — or farther, in Renault’s case — as they were this time last year. Mercedes have developed an even faster machine to attack 2015 with, but they haven’t tried to reinvent the wheel. They haven’t tried to introduce any risky, radical concepts. They have simply refined an already exquisite weapon.
The Mercedes W06 Hybrid outwardly looks like a simple evolution of the dominant W05, but chassis designer Costa hinted in January that there have been significant changes under the skin. “With the Hybrid era still very much in its infancy, there is plenty of scope for innovation,” added Lowe.
The challenge at this stage is to find the key areas for performance gain based not just on what we have learned a year further down the line, but also on where there is room for exploring new and innovative sources of competitive advantage.” Along with responding to new nose regulations, they have aimed to address the old car’s weak points.
They have worked to eradicate the W05’s reliability, which cost the team on several occasions in 2014. The car has also been designed without the now-banned FRIC interconnected suspension system, creating weight savings and improved packaging. The engine department has worked to improve the efficiency of the power unit to get more bang for their buck.
“The focus in this respect has been on combustion efficiency and frictional losses — be they in core parts of the ICE or the ancillary aspects of both ICE and ERS,” Andy Cowell, chief of the Brixworth operation, said. Furthermore, their engine package is believed to have 50 horsepower more than last year.
It is the latter point that is the greatest concern for the engine departments at Ferrari and Renault. Alonso takes a good long look at Hamilton’s car at Sepang last year. Source: Getty Images RULES MAKE IT HARD FOR RIVALS TO CATCH UP Not too long ago, engine manufacturers had free reign to develop and upgrade their motors.
If one team had an engine advantage, rivals burnt the midnight oil designing improvements until they surged ahead in the horsepower arms race. Those days are gone. In a bid to cut costs, F1’s rules heavily restrict the amount of engine upgrades both during season and during the off-season. This ‘freeze’ is nothing new; it was also a feature of the old V8-engine regulations.
The problem — or the benefit, if you are Mercedes — is that the restrictions mean that it is incredibly difficult for a manufacturer to overcome a performance deficiency. Last year, engine specifications were locked in from February 28. After that date, teams could only make changes for reliability reasons.
- That meant that their rivals could not copy their split turbocharger concept, even if they had wanted to, nor could they make major upgrades in the search for horsepower.
- This year teams are allowed to introduce upgraded parts, but only to less than half of the power unit.
- The FIA regulates this with a system of tokens.
Every part of an F1 power unit — the parts that make up the engine, the turbo, the electronics, and the hybrid energy harvesting systems — is given a set amount of tokens, ranging from one to three depending on the importance of the part. A full power unit consists of 66 tokens.
- For 2015, teams are allowed to modify 32 tokens-worth of components during the season.
- This reduces to 27 tokens for 2016, 21 for 2017, and finally 15 tokens from 2018 on.
- Teams are allowed to spend the available tokens as they wish throughout a season.
- For instance, Mercedes have already used up 25 tokens, while Ferrari and Renault have used 22 and 20 respectively.
Conversely it also means that Renault have just five tokens more than Mercedes left up their sleeve for use in 2015. And it’s going to be a hard slog finding 100 horsepower in five tokens, A scene we’re likely to see a lot more in 2015. Source: AFP
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Why is the Mercedes F1 car bouncing so much?
The two words have generally been interchangeable when used by teams and drivers this year, but Vowles says they are not the same and are generated differently. Mercedes appeared to have got on top of its porpoising issue with the W13 at the Spanish Grand Prix, but Vowles says the problems are very much circuit specific, with the smoothness of the surface playing a key role.
The issue of bouncing was exacerbated by the bumpy Baku track surface, which caused extreme discomfort for the drivers, and especially Hamilton. The seven-time F1 world champion had a different set-up compared to his team-mate, including an alternative rear suspension. “There is definitely a track by track element and it’s a function of how smooth the tarmac is and the layout of the circuit,” Vowles said in a Mercedes video.
“I would say Baku certainly of the circuits we’ve had so far is on the worse end of it and conversely Barcelona probably on the better end of it. “So, those two circuits definitely will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the package. But it’s also worth putting a little bit of time into explaining porpoising, bouncing, bottoming – three words possibly being spoken a lot with a little bit of association of being the same thing but they are not quite.” George Russell, Mercedes W13 Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images Vowles noted that, as the Spanish GP indicated, the team has made progress on controlling porpoising. But in so doing, and thus being able to run the car lower, bouncing has become an issue.
We definitely suffered porpoising in the earlier races and in Barcelona we didn’t,” he said. “And we’ve made a tremendous amount of effort on our package to make sure that we tried our best to resolve it, and I am confident we’ve made a step. “In Barcelona the car was stable, robust and we could lower it and that’s the key, we managed to create a package were aerodynamically we were able to work with it a lot more, we could work with set-up and we could drop the cars in terms of ride height producing performance.
“Come now to Monaco and to Baku, what that unfortunately uncovered is a second issue that was being masked by the first. I’m confident we’ve made a step forward in terms of porpoising, but we very clearly have bouncing, and to the outside it looks almost identical, but there is a subtle difference between the two.” Vowles said the bouncing is simply a function of the car striking the track: “What is happening now is that the car is lower, as a result of fixing the first issue, but now hitting the deck quite hard, and that’s creating the bouncing that you see at the moment.
- Again, you try and extract performance by running the car low but the problem is very different and the bumpier the track the more the input is clearly having an effect, which is what we saw in Baku.
- I think what’s clear is that we still have a long journey in front of us to learn everything we need to, to be fighting at the front but perhaps more importantly you will see performance variation track on track as we go forward.
Canada for sure will be very different to Silverstone in terms of how our car performs.” Vowles conceded that the team made life too difficult for its drivers in Baku, while confirming Hamilton will be fit and ready for this weekend’s race in Canada, despite Toto Wolff expressing concerns on Sunday night.
“I am pleased to report that Lewis is here this morning, I spent a few hours with him and he is okay, he will be back in the car in Montreal,” Vowles said. “He is an elite athlete that will push the bounds of endurance of himself and the car and that’s what F1 drivers do, that’s what makes them exceptional.
“On this occasion, though we pushed the package and our drivers too far, we are putting them into significant discomfort and we simply can’t do that again. “Our drivers are not the only ones suffering, you will see in the media a number of comments from a number of drivers who are equally in discomfort and pain. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG, in Parc Ferme Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images The team was mystified by Hamilton’s “cold seat” comment in Baku, but having talked to his driver Vowles said it was a physical rather than mechanical issue. Read Also:
Hamilton wouldn’t miss Canadian GP “for the world” despite back struggles Mercedes: No ‘holy cows’ on W13 F1 car as it ponders 2023 concept revamp Ferrari: New F1 rear wing cuts speed deficit to Red Bull
“What happened is, nothing really had changed in the car, it just looks like after the amount of pummelling his back had taken from the bouncing, he fundamentally had a numbness that set in and it looks like the cold was a response to that,” he explained. “There wasn’t anything colder in the car, it was just a response to the amount of endurance and pain he had been through in the race.”
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Why is Mercedes the fastest car in F1?
A rapid analysis of the top speeds of the various Formula 1 cars during the Grand Prix of Bahrain clearly demonstrates the huge advantage of the Mercedes-powered cars. The Mercedes-powered cars – the Mercedes AMGs, and Williamses, the McLarens and the Sahara Force Indias – enjoyed a comfortable cushion over their rivals in terms of top speed.
- Top speed itself doesn’t tell the full story because it is strongly related to the levels of downforce generated by the front and rear wings.
- However, top speed is generally speaking a good indication of raw engine power.
- In a nutshell: the more power, the better the top speed.
- Grand Prix of Bahrain (Data from the FIA) QUALIFYING Speed trap Top 3 are Mercedes-powered cars: 328.8 – 326.7 = +2.1 km/h (This means that the three fastest cars were Mercedes-powered.
The fastest car overall set a top speed of 328.8 km/h, while the fastest non-Mercedes car was down in fourth place at 327.7 km/h, resulting in an advantage of 2.1 km/h.) Max speeds Intermediate 1 Top 6 are Mercedes-powered cars: 244.9 – 242.4 = +2.5 km/h Intermédiate 2 Top 3 are Mercedes-powered cars: 268.5 – 266.9 = +1.6 km/h Finish line Top 8 are Mercedes-powered cars: 291.1 – 288.3 = +2.8 km/h RACE Speed trap Top 6 are Mercedes-powered cars: 335.7 – 327.8 = +7.9 km/h Max speeds Intermediate 1 Top 8 are Mercedes-powered cars: 242.4 – 236.6 = +5.8 km/h Intermediate 2 Top 2 are Mercedes-powered cars: 255.9 – 252.6 = +3.3 km/h Finish line Top 5 are Mercedes-powered cars: 295.2 – 288.8 = +6.5 km/h
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What is the problem with Mercedes F1 car?
Mercedes admit to making ‘mistake’ in initial 2022 F1 car development
- Mercedes can pinpoint “one moment” during the design phase of its 2022 Formula 1 car where they made a fundamental mistake – one they are still trying to overcome.
- New technical regulations for 2022 brought ground effect back into F1, with the breed of cars drastically different to those of the ’17-’21 era in which Mercedes continued their domination from the early years of the turbo hybrid engine formula.
- However, the team’s W13 design has been off the pace in 2022 compared to the RB18 of Red Bull and F1-75 of Ferrari, with the Silver Arrows in danger of a first winless season since 2011.
- The car was affected in the early stages by the aerodynamic phenomenon known as porpoising, with it taking multiple races for new technical director Mike Elliott and his team to understand and rectify the problem.
- Although this has been done to some extent, the W13 is still prone to fluctuations in performance, as well as struggling to get heat into its tyres for qualifying and not always being competitive on low downforce tracks.
- And Elliott believes the root cause of this is down to one single decision taken by the team in the initial design phase.
- “You look at how we developed the car, and I can point to one moment in time last year where we did something where I think we made a mistake,” Elliott explained on F1’s Beyond The Grid podcast.
- “What you’re seeing in terms of performance and the way it swings from race to race is a consequence of that, and that’s a mistake we’ve known about for a while.
- “It’s something we’ve been correcting and that’s why our performance has gradually got better.
- “But it’s not something we can fully correct for a little while yet, and we will do over the winter.”
- While Elliott would not elaborate any further on the exact details of the mistake, the design of the Mercedes floor has been suspected to be the root cause of its drop in performance.
- In the first pre-season test, Mercedes appeared with a regular car, with regular sidepods, although this had drastically changed by the second test in Bahrain.
- Its unique ‘zero’ sidepod approach attracted attention from all teams in the pit lane to see if it was legal and quick.
- Elliott outlined the FIA’s initial surprise at seeing the design.
- “The aerodynamicists come up with the idea, we take another group of people, generally run by our chief designer, they will go and look for themselves and see if they can shoot it down,” Elliott explained when asked how the team decided the usual design was legal in-house.
- “Before the test, we’d shown it to FIA, we discussed it with them, and their first reaction was: ‘Ah, that’s not what we intended’ and they worked through it as well, see whether they can challenge it.
- “When you look at the sidepod, people say: ‘It looks very different, that must work completely different to the rest of the cars,’ and it doesn’t, it’s just a slightly different solution.
- “Aerodynamically, I don’t think it’s a massive departure from the other cars, it’s just something that adds a little bit of performance for us.”
© XPBimages RacingNews365.com F1 journalists Dieter Rencken and Michael Butterworth discuss the key topics from the Singapore Grand Prix, including whether Sergio Perez’s punishment should have been decided during the race rather than after. : Mercedes admit to making ‘mistake’ in initial 2022 F1 car development
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Why is Mercedes so dominant?
The best car and the best driver. At the start of the current formula with turbo/hybrid engines, Mercedes designed the best engine on the grid. The power, driveability and reliability were, quite simply, a mile ahead of the competition. Continued development has kept the engine at the front of the grid.
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Why are Mercedes F1 so slow?
BAHRAIN — Too much drag and too little power. Apart from that Mercedes head to Saudi Arabia this week full of beans. The mood in Bahrain was one of immense relief after a chastening weekend that showed Mercedes to be a long way off the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull.
- In the circumstances, third for Lewis Hamilton and fourth for George Russell felt like a lottery win.
- And they know Red Bull won’t be posting double DNFs every week,
- The problems are both aerodynamic and engine-based.
- The car has to run too high off the ground to offset the problems with porpoising or bouncing at high speeds.
This in turn affects the car’s ability to punch a clean hole through the air, creating excessive drag and lack of grip.
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Who makes the best F1 engine?
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- ^ “How Long do F1 Engines Last? | F1 Chronicle”,17 June 2020. Archived from the original on 25 April 2021, Retrieved 25 April 2021,
- ^ “F1 rules and stats 1960–1969”,1 January 2009. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014, Retrieved 9 August 2014,
- ^ “Spicer Horsepower and Torque Calculator”,
- ^ “Audi set to announce 2026 F1 entry early next year”, Autocar, Retrieved 8 January 2022,
What is the most dominant car in F1 history?
The McLaren MP4/4 and 5 of Formula 1’s Most Dominant Cars – 0 of 5
Pascal Rondeau/Getty Images The McLaren MP4/4 is the greatest car in the history of grand prix racing. Driven by Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost over the course of the 1988 Formula One season, the first Honda-powered McLaren, designed by Steve Nichols and Gordon Murray, secured 15 wins and pole positions in 16 races. It was behind the wheel of the MP4/4 that Senna delivered arguably the greatest lap in F1 history in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, where the Brazilian set a time almost 1.5 seconds faster than his team-mate in the same machinery. Indeed, the MP4/4 is credited as the car that truly kickstarted one of the most intense, iconic rivalries in sport, as Senna and Prost, as a consequence of McLaren’s performance advantage, battled head-to-head for the championship for the first time, with the former ultimately coming out on top. With a 1.6 litre V6 turbo engine, the RA168E, the car would often produce more than 700 bhp, according to McLaren’s official website, which ensured the Woking-based team scored more than three times as many points as runners-up Ferrari in the constructors’ standings. Ferrari’s home race, in fact, was the scene of McLaren’s only failure in ’88 as Prost withdrew with technical problems and Senna collided with Jean Louis Schlesser at Monza’s first chicane and retired from the lead just two laps from the chequered flag, ruining the team’s hopes of a 100 per cent record. But the MP4/4, more than any other car before or since 1988, was deserving of that accolade. As the wait for the first golden season continues, here are five dominant cars that could, and perhaps should, have won every race they started.
Why can’t Mercedes solve porpoising?
Skip to content Lewis Hamilton says raising his car’s ride height is not the simple solution to porpoising drivers such as Max Verstappen claim it is. The FIA announced yesterday it had issued a technical directive to teams aimed at reducing the severe porpoising and bouncing drivers have experienced in their cars since the beginning of the season.
The move has been criticised by Verstappen who claimed, along with his Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, that teams who are experiencing porpoising can solve it by increasing the right height of their cars, which has a detrimental effect on performance. However, Hamilton said there is a limit to how far his car can be raised and this alone is not enough to cure their porpoising, even after the updated they introduced at the Spanish Grand Prix which eased the problem.
“In the last race and previous races, we have raised the car, and we still have bouncing,” he said. “Porpoising is more about the flow structure underneath the car. We ran the car very high most of the season and it’s not until Barcelona that we decided to go a little bit lower.
We had no bouncing for the first time in Barcelona except in the high-speed corners, and then it appeared again in Monaco and in Baku, so we have to raise the car again. But even when we raise the car, this thing still bounces. “We can’t go any higher, actually, we are limited by the suspension now. So we do lose performance naturally when you do go higher, but the thing still is porpoising caused by the disruptive flow underneath the car.” Verstappen said the FIA should not introduce a mid-season rules change to reduce porpoising.
However Hamilton, speaking in the same press conference as his rival, said the drivers’ safety should come first, and suggested some of them have made different comments about the problem away from the media. “It’s always interesting seeing people’s perspectives and opinions in different light,” he said.
Obviously in front of you is one thing and in the background sometimes people say different things. “But ultimately I think safety is the most important thing. I think there’s at least one driver in every team has spoken on it and I don’t think it’s going to change a huge amount, but I think there’s lots of work that needs to be done.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and “It’s positive that the FIA are working towards improving it because we have this car for the next few years. So it’s not about coping with the bouncing for the next four years, it’s about completely getting rid of it and fixing it so that in future drivers, all of us don’t have back problems moving forwards.” Hamilton said he suffered considerable pain due to porpoising during last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
“There’s a lot more bruising in the body after the races nowadays, so it’s taking most of the week generally to recover,” he said. “You have to do a lot more. “I don’t think that generally has anything to do with age, I think that’s just generally because the bruising can be quite severe. It’s interesting to hear from other drivers, I think for the other drivers that have experienced it in the back that way, when you’re experiencing 10Gs on the bounce on a bump up to 10Gs – which is what I experienced in the last race – that’s a heavy, heavy load on the lower part and the top part of your neck as well.” “In terms of micro-concussions, I’ve definitely been having a lot more headaches in the past months,” he added, “but I have not seen the specialists about it, I’m not taking it too seriously, I’ve just been taking painkillers so I haven’t had concussions.” He believes the problem of porpoising was not anticipated when F1 and the FIA devised the new technical regulations introduced this year, which were intended to make it easier for drivers to overtake.
“They looked at a lot of stuff, but they didn’t anticipate this coming,” he said. “So we need to work together with all the teams, the FIA need to work with all teams, to progress forward and when it’s on safety grounds, it means everyone needs to move.” Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
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Why are F1 cars not loud anymore?
Formula One still quiet despite rule change to boost engine sound BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — It sounds like Formula One has failed in its attempt to bring back loud engine roars. Some drivers, teams and fans say they did not notice a significant increase in sound when cars made it to the track for the first time this week in preseason testing in Barcelona. F1 forced teams to introduce a modified exhaust system to try to boost the engine sound after widespread complaints that cars weren’t loud enough, but the effects fell short of most expectations. Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg said the car “sounds similar” to what it did last year. Sauber driver Felipe Nasr noticed only “a little” increase in the engine sound. Red Bull’s chief engineer officer Rob Marshall said F1 would have been better off without the exhaust changes. “I think the new exhausts are a waste of time,” Marshall told The Associated Press. “I don’t think it has made it any noisier. I think it just made the car a bit heavier.” Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel noticed a positive difference. “I can say it is nice to have a bit more sound coming back,” the four-time world champion said. “It is still not as loud as it could or should be but it is a lot better than it was, now sounds a bit more like Formula One.” The new exhausts were among the few regulation changes for 2016, along with an increase in the size of the head-protection area in the cockpit. The modification in the cockpit was made to better protect the drivers, while the one in exhaust system was aimed solely to make the cars noisier and please the fans. “I think it’s a little bit better,” McLaren racing director Eric Boullier said, before pausing to rethinking his answer, “Isn’t it?” Drivers said the improvement, if any, was minimal. “It’s a very small difference, to be honest,” Force India driver Sergio Perez said. “I don’t think there’s a massive difference from last year.” Perez noted that the Circuit de Barcelona may give a false impression of improvement because the track is compact and cars are always racing close by, so they are heard from nearly everywhere in the facility. “I think the cars sound the same as they did before, perhaps just a little throatier,” said 31-year-old Spaniard fan Dani Huguet, a regular at the track. “They need to try something else to improve this, either by changing the size of this turbo of going back to the old engines, which is what everybody really wants.” The F1 sound changed dramatically after extensive rule changes were implemented two years ago. The series switched from ear-splitting V8 engines to V6 turbo power units, taking away one of the sport’s biggest attractions. Although F1 knew it could not restore the same levels of the V8 engine, it tried to improve the sound by making teams switch from the single exhaust system they used last season to twin exhaust pipes that theoretically make the sound a bit heavier. Brazilian Felipe Nasr said cars are still developing and it’s too early to say that the change did not really affect the sound of cars. “I think it’s a little higher already,” he said. “We can’t judge right away.” Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg did not need any more time to reach his conclusion. “There’s no difference, it sounds similar to me,” he said. : Formula One still quiet despite rule change to boost engine sound
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Is Mercedes faster than Red Bull?
George Russell: Ferrari and Red Bull have ‘inherently faster car’ than Mercedes. George Russell bemoans his car’s lack of performance during Friday’s practice sessions at the 2022 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, saying that rivals Ferrari and Red Bull have an ‘inherently faster car’ than Mercedes.
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What is the fastest car in F1 history?
Formula 1 – Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1, starts the race in pole position Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images Top race speed: 360km/h / 223mph Fastest ever speed: 397.36km/h (246.9mph) Acceleration: 0-60mph – approximately 2.6s F1 cars accelerate from 0 – 60mph in roughly 2.6 seconds.
This might seem slow given their top speed, however as a lot of their speed comes from the aerodynamics (which works better the quicker the car is going), they can’t unleash full power from a standing start. Valtteri Bottas currently holds the record for the highest speed in an F1 race, hitting 372.5km/h (231.4mph) in the 2016 Mexican Grand Prix.
While this is certainly fast, F1 cars aren’t quite the fastest single-seaters – that accolade goes to IndyCar. While F1 isn’t as quick in a straight line, the series’ focus on downforce and cornering speeds means that F1 cars are generally faster over an entire lap.
Both F1 and IndyCar race at the Circuit of the Americas and in its first appearance at the circuit in 2019 the IndyCar pole time was 1m46.018s with an average speed of 186.349km/h. Meanwhile, F1’s pole time set by Valtteri Bottas in 2019 was 1m32.029s, averaging 206.374km/h. While 372.5km/h (231.4mph) is the fastest speed set during a race, the fastest speed set with an F1 car is much higher.
This record is held by Honda, who took their RA106 to the Bonneville Salt Flats in the US, a site famous for top-speed runs, to try and break 400km/h. They were unsuccessful, but set a 397.36km/h (246.9mph) top speed, to claim the highest speed in an F1 car.
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Is F1 faster than Bugatti?
Editorial credit: classic topcar / Shutterstock.com Bugatti has been around for decades and is a name synonymous with racing and hypercar production. The Bugatti Chiron 300+ is the fastest road-legal car available (to those who can afford one), but is it actually faster than an F1 car, and if so, when will it outperform an F1 car? Bugatti is faster than F1 cars regarding top speed; the Bugatti Chiron 300+ achieved a top speed of 304,77 mph.
The fastest speed of an F1 car ever recorded is 256,75 mph. However, when it comes to acceleration, F1 cars are faster than Bugatti due to their power-to-weight ratio advantage. F1 cars are not designed to have the fastest top speed, but they are mind-blowingly quick and nimble around a racing track. Bugatti is the fastest road-legal car you can buy, but it will not beat an F1 car at its game.
Considering that the average take-off speed for a Boeing 747 is 184 mph, both Bugatti and F1 cars require excellent engineering to keep them on the ground at such high speeds. If you’re looking for some F1 merchandise, check out the awesome stuff at the official F1 store here,
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Why did BMW fail in F1?
This article is about BMW’s involvement in Formula One and the motorsport team BMW Sauber. For the independent motorsport team, see Sauber Motorsport,
| Full name | BMW Sauber F1 Team ( 2006 – 2009 ) |
|---|---|
| Base | Hinwil, Switzerland Munich, Germany |
| Noted staff | Mario Theissen Peter Sauber Willy Rampf Willem Toet Andy Cowell |
| Noted drivers | Ernst Klodwig Marcel Balsa “Bernhard Nacke” Rudolf Krause Juan Pablo Montoya Nick Heidfeld Jacques Villeneuve Robert Kubica Sebastian Vettel |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| First entry | 1952 German Grand Prix |
| Races entered | 72 |
| Engines | BMW |
| Constructors’ Championships | |
| Drivers’ Championships | |
| Race victories | 1 |
| Podiums | 17 |
| Points | 308 |
| Pole positions | 1 |
| Fastest laps | 2 |
| Final entry | 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix |
table> BMW as a Formula One engine manufacturer
BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers’ Championship in 1950, The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s (often under Formula Two regulations), before building the BMW M12/13 inline-four turbocharged engine in the 1980s.
This engine was the result of a deal between BMW and Brabham, which resulted in the team’s chassis being powered by BMW engines from 1982 until 1987, a period in which Nelson Piquet won the 1983 championship driving a Brabham BT52 -BMW. BMW also supplied the M12/13 on a customer basis to the ATS, Arrows, Benetton and Ligier teams during this period, with various degrees of success.
In 1988, Brabham temporarily withdrew from the sport and BMW withdrew its official backing from the engines, which were still used by the Arrows team under the Megatron badge. Turbocharged engines were banned by the revised Formula One Technical Regulations for 1989, rendering the M12/13 obsolete.
BMW decided to return to Formula One in the late 1990s by signing an exclusive contract with the Williams team, which needed a new long-term engine supplier after the withdrawal of Renault in 1997, The programme resulted in the creation of a new V10 engine which made its race début in the Williams FW22 in 2000,
The following year saw the partnership move from the midfield to challenging for race victories, but the desired championship remained elusive due to the dominance of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari in the first half of the 2000s. By 2005, the relationship between BMW and Williams had deteriorated, and BMW chose to part company and buy the rival Sauber team outright.
The BMW Sauber project lasted from 2006 until 2009, and resulted in a substantial increase in competitiveness for the Swiss former privateer team. Two podium finishes in the first year were followed by a solid third in the Constructors’ Championship in 2007 (which became second when McLaren was disqualified).
In 2008, Robert Kubica won the team’s only race, the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix, and led the Drivers’ Championship at one point, but the team chose to focus on development of its 2009 car and slipped back in the standings by the end of the season. The 2009 season was a major disappointment as the F1.09 chassis proved uncompetitive.
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Is Mercedes always good F1?
Why Mercedes’ slump is good for F1 – besides the obvious The difficulty of being consistently successful in Formula 1 is wildly underestimated. And that goes for teams as well as drivers. Since the start of the V6 turbo-hybrid era, Mercedes has been phenomenally successful and racked up unprecedented glory with eighth constructors’ titles and seven drivers’ championship.
It’s looked so easy at times, and when it comes to the race weekends there have been periods when winning has been straightforward. But producing that level of performance consistently, year after year and through several rule changes, is far from easy. That’s been proved by what chief technical officer James Allison, one of the key players in Mercedes’ success, describes as having “fallen down a hole” with the car this year.
Yes, in any sport it’s a positive to make things less predictable. After eight years watching the Silver Arrows winning race after race, variety is a good thing whether you are a fan of the team, a “hater” or one of the majority dotted across the spectrum between those two extremes. There were smaller changes in 2019 impacting the front wing it also weathered, while the set of aero changes that swung the pendulum against its low-rake car concept in 2021 only inhibited, rather than eliminated, its supremacy. And all of his followed Mercedes hitting the front at the start of the 1.6-lire V6 turbo hybrid era in 2014, when it won 16 out of 19 races.
- That was the beginning of a run of dominance that seemed like it would never end.
- The fact Mercedes has failed to adapt to the challenges of the 2022 ground effect regulations proves that no victory is preordained.
- Resources, be it budget, personnel, facilities are a prerequisite for success, but they do not guarantee it.
Just look at Ferrari over the past decade. There is the caveat that this is no ordinary season, given the destabilising impact of big teams such as Mercedes having to adapt to the impact of the cost cap, aerodynamic testing restrictions and, of course, the biggest set of chassis rule changes in F1 history. As The Race’s technical expert Gary Anderson always says, no team understands everything about what makes its cars work. Rule changes have always risked exposing hidden weaknesses, while they also challenge teams to look at new regulations and comprehend the key areas for delivering performance.
- There are also myriad external factors lying in wait to trip over teams, as Red Bull found out when its first era of F1 supremacy came to a juddering halt in 2014 – primarily as a result of Renault’s struggles with the new engine regulations.
- This is why watching Mercedes grapple with its serious problems with porpoising – a situation ameliorated by its Spanish Grand Prix upgrade last month – bouncing and all-round rough ride has been so fascinating.
In real time, we get to witness a grand prix team working to come to terms with serious problems with its car, faced the two-fold test of whether it can extract the maximum from the Mercedes W13 and whether, already with the 2023 car, it shift away from the problematic assumptions that have put it in strife.
All of the F1 teams do remarkable things to design, develop, understand and race these prototype cars and in modern F1 even those at the back are doing what is objectively a good job even if it is bad when viewed through the more subjective lens of competition.For Mercedes to remind the watching world how easy it is to tumble down from the precarious peak is every bit as valuable as the freshness of seeing a different battle at the front.It emphasises that even though F1 can sometimes look very easy, it’s anything but.
: Why Mercedes’ slump is good for F1 – besides the obvious
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Can Mercedes F1 bounce back?
Hamilton puts faith in Mercedes F1 title bounce back
is faithful that will be able to recover from its slump in form this season and bounce back as F1 title contenders. The British driver faces a first winless season in a 16-year career due to the W13 being woefully uncompetitive compared to Red Bull and at the start of the campaign. Mercedes has found improvement as the season has progressed, however, notably challenging for victory in the Netherlands and clinching pole position with in Hungary. But with Red Bull still out of reach, the Silver Arrows will likely have had one eye on next year’s competitor when developing the current car in order to try and make a leap at the start of the next campaign. With the fast-paced nature of F1 leaving no room to rest, Hamilton explained: “Right now, I’m just really focused on trying to articulate what I’m feeling in the car, what I want in next year’s car and making sure it gets done because it all moves so quickly. “They’ve already got to sign off the brakes or the front suspension now, the gearbox gets signed off now. “Everything gets done so far in advance, so making sure you catch them before they sign off those things and get things in the pipeline that maybe in the past we’ve not had time to really focus on to give us a better foundation for the future.” Backing Mercedes to rebound, Hamilton added: “I’m enjoying it and we’ve won the last eight world constructors’ titles “I have every bit of faith in my team and engineers that we will get there. “Just with the cost cap and the wind tunnel time, it’s not as simple and easy as it was before but that doesn’t mean we can’t get there.”
: Hamilton puts faith in Mercedes F1 title bounce back
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What are Mercedes weaknesses?
2. Weaknesses of Mercedes Benz – Weaknesses are challenges faced by the company. This allows the brand to improve its mistakes and course-correct. Let’s have a look at Mercedes-Benz’s weaknesses.
Expensive Luxury Brand
Being a luxury car, Mercedes Benz is very expensive which at times results in the weakness of the Automobiles Companies. There are gaps within the range of the products sold by the corporation. This may create an opportunity for the competitors to attract more customers to their produc ts.
Limited Global Distribution
The distribution of Mercedes Benz cars is limited around the globe; which affects the supply and thereby the brand equity. Even though the company is spending above the industry average on research and development, it has not been able to compete with the leading automobile companies in the terms of innovation.
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Who dominates F1?
Most successful team by total race wins
| Position | Team | Total Race Wins |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ferrari | 241 |
| 2 | McLaren | 183 |
| 3 | Mercedes | 124 |
| 4 | Williams | 114 |
Is Mercedes slower than Red Bull?
“We’re a long way off the pace of Red Bull, Ferrari, even the likes of AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo are seemingly on our pace or even quicker.” That is how George Russell summed up Mercedes’ performance on the opening day of running at the start of Formula 1’s new era in Bahrain.
- Few believed Mercedes’ claims that it was on the back foot after pre-season, but based on Friday’s two practice sessions at the Bahrain International Circuit, it appears the reigning world champions are genuinely struggling.
- Russell ended the day fourth-quickest but was over half a second down on Max Verstappen on the same tyre compound.
“It’s clear it’s all about lap time and we are certainly not where we want to be,” he said. “I think we made a bit of progress solving some issues but the pace is just not there at the moment. “So we need to really go over the data tonight to really understand why we’re both struggling with the car.” Mercedes not only appears to be lagging behind its rivals over one lap, but its long run pace in FP2 will be of equal concern.
Over a similar race simulation run, Mercedes was around a second slower compared to Red Bull, though exact fuel loads and engine settings are unknown. “I think the high fuel pace is a bit more representative and we were consistently over a second slower than where our rivals are,” Russell added. “I need to look into the data a bit further.
Maybe there’s a reason for it but from our side, we’re definitely not overly happy with the car right now and we’ve got some work to do. But if anyone can, our team can, so let’s see.”
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Is Mercedes engine the best in F1?
Mercedes has had the fastest engine on the grid for eight years almost continuously. Ferrari took on the German manufacturer for a time and then Honda came along. Using the Honda engine figures, there is now an estimate of the horsepower of the different F1 engines.
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Why is it so hard to brake in F1?
Aerodynamics for Braking – An incredibly important fact to consider is that it is impossible for F1 cars to lock the brakes when decelerating from a high speed. This is due to the aerodynamic forces that the car generates at these speeds. Essentially the brakes can not provide a strong enough force to lock the wheels due to the sheer amount of grip caused by the downforce.
- However, as the car slows and the downforce decreases, so does the grip, and therefore the driver must release the brake pedal to stop the brakes from locking in a similar fashion to trail braking but when the car is driving in a straight line.
- To expand on this, you will have to consider the amount of grip available when applying the brakes to ensure you do not trigger a lock-up.
There are two key factors to consider; speed and steering angle. Again, if you are travelling at a slower speed, you have less downforce, which means you have less grip. In lower gears (3rd and below) you will likely not be able to use full brake pressure because the car has less grip. Nascar AERO-Brakes in Action We often see drivers misunderstand this “speed to brake pressure concept” and instead “apply the brakes too slowly”. To be clear, the initial press of the pedal should be quick, but should only be pressed to the point just before the brakes begin to lock.
- This is the maximum amount of braking available.
- So at low-speed corners, the amount in which the brake is pressed is less than the amount of brake used at high-speed corners.
- The second factor, steering angle, can often catch new drivers out.
- If you steer the car while on the brakes with ABS off, you will often lock-up because you are asking too much of the tyre.
As mentioned earlier, most of your braking should be done in a straight line. When you start to turn, you should be releasing the brake. You can use the traction circle as a good mental model of how to use the grip of the car for braking, accelerating, and turning.
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When did Mercedes start dominating F1?
| Full name | Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team |
|---|---|
| Base | Brackley, England, UK (Chassis) Brixworth, England, UK (Power unit) |
| Team principal(s) | Toto Wolff (Team Principal & CEO) Hywel Thomas ( MD, Powertrains ) |
| Chief Technical Officer | James Allison |
| Technical director | Mike Elliott |
| Website | www,mercedesamgf1,com |
| Previous name | Brawn GP |
| 2022 Formula One World Championship | |
| Race drivers | 44. Lewis Hamilton 63. George Russell |
| Test drivers | Nyck de Vries Stoffel Vandoorne |
| Chassis | F1 W13 |
| Engine | Mercedes F1 M13 E Performance |
| Tyres | Pirelli |
| 2023 Formula One World Championship | |
| Race drivers | 44. Lewis Hamilton 63. George Russell |
| Test drivers | TBA |
| Chassis | F1 W14 |
| Engine | Mercedes |
| Tyres | Pirelli |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| First entry | 1954 French Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix |
| Races entered | 271 |
| Engines | Mercedes |
| Constructors’ Championships | 8 ( 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 ) |
| Drivers’ Championships | 9 ( 1954, 1955, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 ) |
| Race victories | 125 |
| Podiums | 281 |
| Points | 6813.5 (6952.64) |
| Pole positions | 136 |
| Fastest laps | 100 |
| 2022 position | 3rd (515 pts) |
Mercedes-Benz, a brand of the Mercedes-Benz Group, has been involved in Formula One as both team owner and engine manufacturer for various periods since 1954. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, which is based in Brackley, England, and possesses a German licence, as of 2022 majority owned by the Mercedes-Benz Group with Toto Wolff having a significant shareholding.
Mercedes-branded teams are often referred to by the nickname, the ” Silver Arrows “. An announcement was made in December 2020 that Ineos planned to take a one third equal ownership stake alongside the Mercedes-Benz Group and Wolff; this came into effect on 25 January 2022. Before the Second World War, Mercedes-Benz competed in the European Championship, winning three titles.
The marque debuted in Formula One in 1954, After winning their first race at the 1954 French Grand Prix, driver Juan Manuel Fangio won another three Grands Prix to win the 1954 Drivers’ Championship and repeated this success in 1955, Despite winning two Drivers’ Championships, Mercedes-Benz withdrew from motor racing after 1955 in response to the 1955 Le Mans disaster,
Mercedes returned to Formula One in 1994 as an engine manufacturer in association with Ilmor, a British independent high-performance autosport engineering company, which developed their engines. The company won one constructors’ title and three drivers’ titles in a works partnership with McLaren which lasted until 2009.
In 2005, Ilmor was rebranded as Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains, In 2010, the company bought the Brawn GP team, rebranding it as Mercedes. Since a major rule shake-up in 2014, which required the use of turbochargers and hybrid electric engines, Mercedes has become one of the most successful teams in Formula One history, winning seven consecutive Drivers’ titles from 2014 to 2020 and eight consecutive Constructors’ titles from 2014 to 2021,
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How long has Mercedes been dominating F1?
Mercedes’ current dominance in Formula 1 began in 2014, the year that marked a dramatic change in engine regulations.
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Is Mercedes the most dominant team in F1 history?
Mercedes: 49.8 Percent – 1st Place – Red Bull Racing vs Mercedes: The last few years of Formula 1 duel © Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool Since re-entering Formula One in 2010, Mercedes have been the most dominant team in the history of the sport. F1 legend Michael Schumacher joined for the start of the 2010 season, with emerging talent Nico Rosberg at his side,
- Two of the best German F1 drivers of all time,
- For the 2013 season, a certain Lewis Hamilton took over the cockpit from Schumacher.
- Right away, they secured second place in the World Constructors’ Championships with 360 points, which went to Red Bull Racing with 596 points,
- With the start of the hybrid era in the 2014 season, however, Mercedes dominance began, as since then the World Constructors’ Championship title has belonged to Mercedes, winning an incredible eight titles in a row,
However, the team’s origins go back a long way: between 1954 and 1955, Mercedes had already competed once in Formula 1, at that time under the name Daimler-Benz AG. Both times, a certain Juan Manuel Fangio was crowned Formula 1 World Champion. If you take both eras together, Mercedes have competed 249 times in Formula 1 and won an incredible 124 races,
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Which Mercedes F1 car was most dominant?
The F1 W06 Hybrid was the successor of the highly successful F1 W05 Hybrid, which has been described as one of the most dominant in the sport’s history.
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