You never really know what the FIA are gonna do, no one complained about the EBD (HRT threatened to, but never actually did, preferring instead to race despite being well off 107%, a back room deal probably) but they nearly banned that as it was considered moveable aero due to movements in the engine, with Mercedes teams have complained so I wouldn't be surprised if it was banned as the movement of the DRS is affecting the aerodynamics beyond the remit of stalling the rear wing. That said I do like the thinking behind it, as I said on other threads, it isn't too hard to route airflow through an F1 car and put it anywhere you want, not sure they'll get away with it though.
First outing and it looks like tyre degradation is an issue on the car and that the gear ratios required to take advantage of the DRS solution might be battering the gearbox. Difficult to say after one race, of course, but Mercedes look like they might have put all their eggs in the qualifying basket and maybe compromised race performance.
That DRS must be worth huge amounts of time. I was watching the gap between Hamilton and Vettel after the safety car and LH was gaining about half a second in the DRS zone, considering Mercedes is almost twice as powerful and available for the whole lap in qualifying it was probably worth about half a second over the rest of the field. Malaysia has those two massive straights so it should be even more effective, I'm backing Rosberg for pole.
Ted Kravitz noted that McLaren were on a par with Mercedes in speed traps despite (he said) not running a RW->FW F-duct device. The legality of it should be decided before the next race, but Boullier at least was expecting clarification Saturday evening or on Sunday.
Is it for certain they dont have an F-duct? Martin Whitfarce said he can confidently say mclaren will not protest mercedes F-Duct. why is that? either: 1/They already have something similar 2/They are already developing something similar 3/they will be starting to develop one surely it was known Mercedes were looking at the F-duct before the 2011 season had finished so thats enough time for other teams to have copied or thought of their own.
I don't know if McLaren have something similar but I agree that Whitmarsh is notably supportive of Mercedes's innovative approach. I think the video that was posted earlier in this thread (showing the air intake from the nose being routed to the wing elements to variously stall them or increase downforce) and all the talk of Mercedes's magic front wing was a deliberate red herring to hide what they were really doing. I don't think rival teams were aware of the DRS trigger until last week.
If the Merc device is illegal - what will that do to the Qualy and race pace? Might knock them back quite a bit - grid spot and tyres?
Maybe McLaren are currently doing a new engine deal with Mercedes and want to stay in their good books?
Racepace not so much as I guess it only works when DRS is on so they would only use it when overtaking. Quali pace will be majorly hit
I got a similar feeling from McLaren as you did Bando, I think it's either on their car or going to be soon. Their rear wing defiantly shows some similar "mouldings" in the uprights. Getting it on the car though isn't the biggest issue, I think it's implementing it. DRS in a race is only good if you're needing to overtake someone, however, if you use it at every opportunity in quail and get pole then it's useless in the race and your gearing is setup wrong. Essentally your car is a quail specialist but you're a sitting duck at the front of the grid come race day. http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/mercedes-are-they-blowing-the-front-or-rear-wing/ Just saw this from Scarbs too, if he's correct it may be slightly harder to copy if the front is being blown. The pictures on Sutton Images need a good eye to see the ducts and slots Scarbs talks about.
Designing it into the car is as big a headache as copying McLaren's F-duct in 2010 was and could require new crash tests. Gary Anderson reckons it's only worth up to 0.2 seconds so it may not be considered worthwhile, especially with the gear ratios required to utilise it fully. Rosberg reckons Mercedes can get on top of its tyre degradation problems sooner rather than later. I'm dubious.
I think it will be hard for it to be declared illegal? They are using the DRS as part of their rear wing in a more efficient way than others, the only bone of contention is that F-ducts were outlawed as it required driver input to make it work. Could Ferrari International Assistance now deem that by using the DRS button, it is the same as a driver input for the F-Duct so ban what Mercedes have done, even if the argument is it is a by-product of activating DRS? Could the FIA ban Mercedes from using the DRS until they make changes, because of the secondary activation of a device that would be banned if operated independtly? It's a very clever way to make the DRS even better for them and its good there is still some innovative thinking on the grid
F-Ducts, KERS, double diffusers were never made fully illegal were they? just gentlemans agreements to not run them
not really - you just tie a very wide hose on the rear wing - run it back to before the front wing - and Hey presto - solved....
So then why were they so much faster in qualifying compared to the race? It must be worth a bit more than 2 tenths.
He reckons it's because, in the race, "they used up their tyres quicker than the others." A green track, an aggressive qualifying lap and a heavy fuel load could have necessitated gingerly tip-toeing through the opening laps of the race.
