The Mercedes F1 has installed an optical height sensor on Lewis Hamilton’s machine to neglect the negative effects of weight in the qualifying and finals of the F1 Australian Grand Prix in order to find a solution to the ongoing popping problem.
Observing observers at the F1 Australian Grand Prix mightn’t help but notice the strange light coming from under Lewis Hamilton’s car in the final on Sunday.
This isn’t a funky idea to make the Mercedes W13 look good, it’s actually a sensor to measure ride height, and the Mercedes F1 is an ongoing effort to reach the root of the popping problem. It was an extension of.
Mercedes F1 believes that if you can understand what it takes to stop the W13 from hunting hard on a straight, it will help you drive in a setup window that automatically improves performance.
At this time, Mercedes F1 has not reached the root of what causes popping.
Toto Wolff, a Mercedes F1 team, admits that there are some “gremlins” hidden in the car. The situation was particularly confusing on the weekends in Melbourne, as no matter how much the setup was changed, they seemed to have little effect on the problem.
But popping doesn’t seem to happen very often in the race, and to understand why, Mercedes F1 chose to keep an optical ride height sensor on Lewis Hamilton’s car over the Australian Grand Prix weekend. bottom.
Sensors that emit light when powered on measure the vehicle’s height and track with respect to the truck, so they can be used to get an accurate picture of what’s happening on a straight or corner.
Although these devices are very commonly used in F1, they are considered important by 1-2kg and are usually installed only in free practice sessions due to the extra weight on the car. There is.
However, Mercedes F1 felt that the advantages of holding it in the car for qualifying and the additional knowledge gained were more important than any of the drawbacks of the additional ballast.
“I’m riding a little heavy in the car, but it’s not big. I hope the team can get more information in the race,” Lewis Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.
However, the data acquisition exercises carried out by Mercedes were not limited to the optical sensors. Free practice adds an additional optical ride height sensor housed in a pod at the edge of the floor.
Mercedes F1 is putting off the upgrade because it doesn’t want to confuse the problem by changing the car’s configuration until it gets an answer regarding popping.
As a result, the team has not yet introduced a bespoke lowdown force rear wing and continues to use a modified version of the highdown force wing used in the season opener.
As the popping issue remains a priority, Mercedes F1 is currently aware that Ferrari and Red Bull are out of reach in Saturday’s qualifying and are putting more effort into race pace.
The work that Mercedes F1 is doing was very intense, not only trying to find a sweet spot for performance, but also switching between mechanical and aerodynamic setups.
This exacerbates the porpoising problem for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to collect data and better understand how to deal with it, switching between rear wing setups with and without Gurney flaps. It is also proved by actively pushing the car in the direction.
Category: Category: F1 / Mercedes
