Brand new sidepods on the Mercedes W14 in Monaco!

The week of the Monaco GP is in full swing, and the technical innovations at Mercedes are taking center stage. Following the unsatisfactory performance offered by the W14 of Hamilton and Russell in the first 5 Grands Prix, important aerodynamic updates were already planned at Imola; but unfortunately we all know what happened in Emilia Romagna, which is why the first useful opportunity to introduce these upgrades became the Monaco GP.

How truthful is the validation of such an upgrade on a circuit like Monaco?

The usual workflow when a new component is introduced on a Formula 1 single-seater requires a validation phase on the track. This validation mainly takes place through aerodynamic tests at constant speed (usually at 180 km/h, 200 km/h, 220 km/h and 240 km/h), during which data on the flow patterns on the bodywork are collected through the use of flow-viz or "pressure taps", i.e. pressure sensors.

The layout of the Monaco track has at least 3 elements which make this validation phase very prone to correlation errors:

• The road surface, being a city circuit, is very bumpy: this varies the air mass flow that hits the under-car instant by instant;
• Except under the tunnel section before the Nouvelle Chicane, there are no straights long enough to tackle at constant speeds like those above-mentioned;
• The presence of guardrails alters the pressure field that the air generates on the external surfaces of the car;

For these 3 reasons, we can say that Monaco absolutely does not represent a reliable counter-test to verify the goodness of the work carried out in the factory by the teams... If we add to this the weather forecast for the weekend (which mainly predicts rain), one would think that the Mercedes engineers felt quite confident about the results that emerged from the CFD analyses first and from the wind tunnel afterwards.

In any case, it's easy to imagine that they themselves are eagerly awaiting a more truthful test bench, which can come very soon, in the Spanish Grand Prix (in Barcelona) next week...

What is the update package brought to the Principality?

As can be seen in the next photo, most of the updates are in the sidepods area, the suspect number one of the W14's aerodynamic instability since the beginning of the year. The tapered "zeropods" configuration didn't work, and the engineering team led again by James Allison decided to put an end to that concept.

Sidepods. pic.twitter.com/vqoWTTv8i7

— Simon Lazenby (@simon_lazenbyF1) May 25, 2023

In their place we find more voluminous inlets, and which present a descending trend clearly inspired by Red Bull. It is very important to note how the new geometry uses the upper side impact protection structure (mandatory for safety reasons) as the upper "lip" of the sidepods themselves.

Until the last GP held in Miami, the anti-intrusion cone mentioned above was covered by a fairing which we have often called the "central wing". Its aim was to create a downwash effect and thus direct the airflow towards the lower area of the sidepods, from which they would then feed the diffuser... But this aerodynamic philosophy, clear in its intent, never really worked - probably due to the aggressive geometry of the center wing itself.

So, on the new specification on the W14, the task of generating downwash is delegated to the entire sidepod, which must now "gently" guide (i.e. "avoiding stalling") the airflow towards the diffuser. To help the sidepods in this goal there will be the Coanda effect, never really exploited as long as Mercedes adhered to the "zeropods" philosophy: remember that the Coanda effect refers to the natural tendency of fluids - air in this case - to follow the solid surfaces that are in their proximity.

The Red Bull inspiration is evident, but the undercut isn't quite as pronounced

One of the technical peculiarities of the Red Bull RB19 which is dominating the current championship is the presence of a very pronounced undercut, very useful for aerodynamically sealing the edges of the floor. If well engineered, this area will help the floor itself to work in more consistent conditions, and we have reiterated many times how important this is in current Formula 1 cars...

On the Mercedes W14 that will race in Monaco it was decided not to create an equally extended undercut, which shows how this evolution was implemented having to deal with insurmountable structural limitations, especially in the form of positioning the lower side impact protection structure. We are sure that without such impediment, even the aerodynamicists of Brackley as well as those of Milton Keynes would have sought to maximize the undercut at all costs.

Comparison of the new and old sidepods of the Mercedes W14 (credit: Albert Fabrega)

Another technical detail of the new sidepods visible from the photo-comparison above resides in the upper surface, similar in concept more to McLaren and Aston Martin than to Red Bull. The Aston Martin itself, in this area, presents the famous "waterslides": an extreme way of conveying the flows towards the diffuser which has been re-proposed in a less radical key by McLaren and, from today, by Mercedes.

That's not all: new front suspension, still push-rod but revised in its geometries

The news doesn't end with the sidepods: in Brackley it was also decided to bring a new front suspension on track...

Mercedes' radical suspension change:

-Now strongly anti-dive➡️Less pitch under braking➡️Can be run lower (improved underfloor aero) + Less variable downforce (more predictable behaviour)

-That + lower camber gain➡️Less camber variation when braking➡️Potentially better braking🛞 pic.twitter.com/Rhr8xLiJxQ

— 📈Formula Data Analysis (@FDataAnalysis) May 25, 2023

As can be seen in the photo above, although the suspension configuration has remained push-rod, the linkage kinematics have been revised to provide a greater anti-dive effect (click here to find out more). Should this effect be achieved, it will be possible for Mercedes to widen its set-up "window"; in other words, it will be possible for the engineers to adopt a wider range of ride heights - perhaps lowering the single-seater by a few millimeters - and, in cascade, determine aerodynamic benefits in terms of ground effect.

As mentioned before, a validation of the goodness of the new front suspension will certainly be possible more in Barcelona than in Monaco.

What are the next steps to bring the Mercedes W14 to the top?

The goal for a team that used to win multiple World Titles cannot and must not be to settle for small improvements: for this reason, at Mercedes are already in the pipeline other updates for the next Grands Prix, the purpose of which will be to to contain the vehicle mass and save about 4 kg to be redistributed in the car in the form of ballast: the weight will be contained within the limits imposed by the Technical Regulations, but the presence of ballast will dynamically help the W14 to have a lower center of gravity.

We just have to wait and see if the hard work done in recent months in Brackley can bear fruit...