Mercedes Unveil Significant Upgrades in Spain

[Paul Jeffrey]

Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes Formula One team are looking to return to the top of the Grand Prix field in Barcelona with a number of innovative new design features coming on stream in Spain.

Gone for this Grand Prix is the experimental longer wheelbase W08, replaced by a slightly shorter version of the car that now carries significantly less weight than at the beginning of the season. Allowing the team a wider scope of setup options and ballast placement in future races, the shorter, lighter car is arguably one of the biggest gains for the Silver Arrows since packing up the silverware from Russia almost two weeks ago. Although impressive in it's gains so far, Mercedes are well aware that further work on the base weight of the car will be required if the team are to retain a competitive advantage over it's nearest rival Ferrari and the rapidly improving Red Bull team.

On a slightly more visual note the #44 and #77 AMG Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas also showed up in Spain with some interesting new detailing around the front of the car, with a striking new turning vane running from the middle of the front nose section to beneath the drivers survival cell, plus the inclusion of new bargeboards, revised floor, several new and updated bolt on aerodynamic devices and most telling of all an updated Mercedes Power Unit featuring further strengthening and improved reliability.

The question is will these updates be enough to overthrow Ferrari in the drivers championship at the end of the weekend, and can the development pace of big rivals Red Bull and the Italian Prancing Horse match the best work of the boys from Brackley? We will find out for sure at the end of the final lap of the 2017 Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona this weekend.

The 2017 Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona takes place on the weekend of Sunday 14th May. You can catch all the latest session reports and discuss the race as it happens at our dedicated Spanish Grand Prix thread found HERE.

For more motorsport news then check out the Formula One sub forum here at RaceDepartment. We feature all the latest news and discussions regarding the world of Grand Prix motor racing and you can join in with the discussion and chat about the sport with your fellow Formula One fans. Get yourself involved with the discussion today!

Do you think Mercedes can halt the recent success of Ferrari and return to the dominant position they have enjoyed these past few years with this upgrade? Can the Silver Arrows secure at victory on Sunday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya ? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[whip]

i saw 2 mercedes petronas lorries going down the m20 a couple days ago with some weird bubbles shaped trailers, wonder if it was their new cars on the way to dover

 

[Andrew Harper]

What an interesting set of changes!

The nose treatment is really extreme, looks like they are trying to make it as narrow as the regulations allow. Instead of a step along the top, we've got one either side.

My main interest though is that front suspension. The top mounts from the wishbone to the wheel. I've never seen anything like that before, very unusual and certainly different.

EDIT: I've just noticed the HAM44 on the shark fin, I guess this is liberty media asking the cars to be more recognisable?

 

[Benutzername]

What an interesting set of changes!

The nose treatment is really extreme, looks like they are trying to make it as narrow as the regulations allow. Instead of a step along the top, we've got one either side.

My main interest though is that front suspension. The top mounts from the wishbone to the wheel. I've never seen anything like that before, very unusual and certainly different.

EDIT: I've just noticed the HAM44 on the shark fin, I guess this is liberty media asking the cars to be more recognisable?

Reply to your edit:
Yep, every team has made changes. Mercedes has a red (ham) and a blue (bot) number now and also added the number, flag and name tag on the shark fin.
Ferrari has its number put under a '70s retro badge'. Just a white area with the number and influences of the 70s.
Red Bull has the number on the shark fin, haas has implemented the namentags into the design of the shark fin. Force India added numbers there, Williams resized the number on the nose and added the name tags on the endplates.

Seems to be because of Liberty Media

 

[Tobiman]

Remember when Kimi couldn't tell who was who during the race? This should fix that hopefully.

 

[Lorenzo Bonder]

Remember when Kimi couldn't tell who was who during the race? This should fix that hopefully.

"How in the hell am I behind Bottas if I pitted earlier than him!?"
"Kimi, Bottas is leading the race...."
"Oh...."

KIMI SENPAI'S LOGICS.

 

[burrito]

Source for the shorter wheelbase change?

 

[Chris]

Dem Silver cars gon' be runnin' rings round the red ones, me thinks...

 

[rakesh27]

I do love F1, however nowadays its all about how to extract the most out of your package, so be it airflow, engine tweaks, management of tires, all forms of electronic aids etc..

I don't know if you can call it racing when if your not in the most efficient car your not gonna be challenging for the top stop unless by miracle you have different variable to when you all started e.g rain, failures etc..

I've been watching since the early days in my career when cars were cars Senna/Prost/Mansel,Piquet and others where the cars didn't have so much technology in them and it was more about who had the most balls to take corners flat out and drive 100% all of the time.

I wish we could go back or not go back but get rid of all the extras, have simple cars all with V10's to the same spec, no extras on the cars like manipulating airflow's etc... no hybrids, no tire wear that is extreme..

Then you would see who's the best is.... right now i think its all about who can extract the most out of there package and manage tires to win races.

Still love it, always will love it, i think racing is in my blood... something to think about me thinks ?

 

[Ryan Soucy]

You can only see a glimpse of it, but I see they've listened to some fan surveys and added some graphics to the shark fin to make the two cars distinguishable. Smart move. Like the responsiveness.

 

[whip]

^ ^agreed, the cars need to be more mechanical grip than aero, too much reliance on aero like they have now makes overtaking a pain in the butt

 

[Nick Gregory]

Dem Silver cars gon' be runnin' rings round the red ones, me thinks...

Very, very big ones since the wheelbase is so long.

 

[Damage Inc]

I do love F1, however nowadays its all about how to extract the most out of your package, so be it airflow, engine tweaks, management of tires, all forms of electronic aids etc..

I don't know if you can call it racing when if your not in the most efficient car your not gonna be challenging for the top stop unless by miracle you have different variable to when you all started e.g rain, failures etc..

I've been watching since the early days in my career when cars were cars Senna/Prost/Mansel,Piquet and others where the cars didn't have so much technology in them and it was more about who had the most balls to take corners flat out and drive 100% all of the time.

I wish we could go back or not go back but get rid of all the extras, have simple cars all with V10's to the same spec, no extras on the cars like manipulating airflow's etc... no hybrids, no tire wear that is extreme..

Then you would see who's the best is.... right now i think its all about who can extract the most out of there package and manage tires to win races.

Still love it, always will love it, i think racing is in my blood... something to think about me thinks ?

^ ^agreed, the cars need to be more mechanical grip than aero, too much reliance on aero like they have now makes overtaking a pain in the butt

Totally agree, aerodynamics have ruined F1 (and to a lesser degree other forms of car racing), The onus NEEDS to be on mechanical grip, who cares that an F1 car corners at a million miles an hour when the closest the car following can be is 1 or more seconds behind because of dirty air reducing front grip. I mean just looking at the sculpted little winglets and the complexity of it all, it all costs ridiculous amounts of money and adds nothing to the spectacle...in fact it takes away IMO.

 

[Jozsusz]

Nice. They should finally crash the Ferrari once and for all.

 

[CC]

Damn these upgrades are killer!!

 

[Chris]

Mercedes uses "Insane Development Mode" on Ferrari.
...
...
...
It's SUPER effective!

 

[garyjpaterson]

My main interest though is that front suspension. The top mounts from the wishbone to the wheel. I've never seen anything like that before, very unusual and certainly different.

Yeah its very cool, both MB and Toro Rosso have had this solution since the start of the season - I don't think its been done before on the front (although every team has done something similar on the rear for a long time).

I'm not really qualified to say what the benefits are, but I'd think it probably allows for a lot more scope in terms of setup since they are no longer constrained to inside the wheel rim.

Source for the shorter wheelbase change?

Yeah, heard a few people say it but no proof or even comparison pics. Seems like a huge change mid-season, and I'm inclined to think it has stayed the same (though if anyone can do it, its MB).

 

[rubaru]

My main interest though is that front suspension. The top mounts from the wishbone to the wheel. I've never seen anything like that before, very unusual and certainly different.

It seems to me that the attachment point inside the nose has been raised to allow for a restructuring of some of those components. I'm not smart enough to know what that could mean, but it looks like there is a lot more room underneath that in the previous version.

 

[Jozsusz]

It seems to me that the attachment point inside the nose has been raised to allow for a restructuring of some of those components. I'm not smart enough to know what that could mean, but it looks like there is a lot more room underneath that in the previous version.

It's the same as before.

 

[Stuart Gillard]

I do love F1, however nowadays its all about how to extract the most out of your package, so be it airflow, engine tweaks, management of tires, all forms of electronic aids etc..

I don't know if you can call it racing when if your not in the most efficient car your not gonna be challenging for the top stop unless by miracle you have different variable to when you all started e.g rain, failures etc..

I've been watching since the early days in my career when cars were cars Senna/Prost/Mansel,Piquet and others where the cars didn't have so much technology in them and it was more about who had the most balls to take corners flat out and drive 100% all of the time.

I wish we could go back or not go back but get rid of all the extras, have simple cars all with V10's to the same spec, no extras on the cars like manipulating airflow's etc... no hybrids, no tire wear that is extreme..

Then you would see who's the best is.... right now i think its all about who can extract the most out of there package and manage tires to win races.

Still love it, always will love it, i think racing is in my blood... something to think about me thinks ?

I agree with you here on pretty much all of your points, my interest in F1 isn't what it was back in the early 90's when Senna/Prost/Mansell and so on were at their best, when we had V10's and Ferrari running their V12's, cars running skinny rear wings along with small and simple front wings with a limited number of aerodynamic parts and fewer technological influences, qualifying engines, race engines and refueling, because of this the racing was a lot closer and more exciting to watch.

I don't know what the solution to the problem is, and if there will ever be one but there is a problem within the sport, I'd personally just like to see more wheel to wheel on track action instead of race deciding events taking place in the pit lane, a return to loud noisy engines, a smaller field spread without the massive gaps between the top manufacturers such as Mercedes/Ferrari and then the rest, drivers being able to push their car from start to finish without having to manage fuel and tyres and less focus on aerodynamic downforce and grip but more on the mechanical aspect of it allowing cars to follow each other closely.

Racing is what is missing from the sport, racing is all about going as fast as you can to cover a set distance to win, simple, but more often than not in F1 drivers and cars aren't able to go as fast as they can due to needing to make tyres and fuel last, drivers even need coaching during races by their engineers because the cars are so complicated now to drive with the on-board computers and electrical systems.

Nowadays I find other racing more interesting and exciting due to the close on track battles such as Blancpain, WEC and so on, I still enjoy watching F1 but it doesn't excite and interest me as much as it once did.