Source: Formula1.com



With the basic workings of their innovative, DRS-operated 'F-duct' rear wing having been revealed in Australia, Mercedes have since been careful to keep the system's front wing detail hidden. They even changed the layout of their garage to make it more difficult for photos to be taken and devised a special rubber cover to put inside the nosecone every time it is taken off. But when Michael Schumacher went off in final practice in Melbourne, a picture was taken of the two small cuts in the front wing flap (highlighted in yellow). In Japan last year the team tested a passive system that fed air through the nosecone vent and down the two wing pillars to the front-wing flap. But it proved difficult to set up, and with the nosecone vent now only allowed to be used for driver cooling, they had to find a different way to get the airflow to the front wing - hence the current system that is believed to route airflow all the way through the chassis, from the much-talked-about holes in the rear-wing endplates to the front-wing cuts shown here. The supposed result is an F-duct style stalling of the wing at speed, cutting drag and boosting top speed. Some teams believe the DRS regulations safeguard against its activation mechanism being used for another system and feel that Mercedes' solution is illegal. Mercedes, however, believe they have cleverly interpreted a grey area of the rules.

 

hehe gotta love the cleverness involved when working around these gray areas.

 

Brawn is a master of this. Personally I think there's nothing wrong with doing everything allowed by the rules. If it's not explicitly banned, it's legal. Think about the BT46 fan car, moveable skirts, the Chaparrals, etc. Innovation through exploiting loopholes.

 

I think this design innovation is ingenius, not only because it shaves time and gives the drivers' an edge when down on a straight, but because it's so overly complicated the other teams have no way of replicating it anytime soon, and not at least within the first half of the season, which gives Mercedes the upper hand and well, if their drivers can learn to stay on the circuit and finish on the podium

Neither Rosberg & Schumacher have made a great race performance and the more races that go by, the less of an advantage they have because all the other teams are rev'ving up with their own enhancements too.

 

The lack of rear traction on Schumi's car was appalling. Not sure if you heard, but David Hobbs sarcastically reminded the listeners of Schumi's "Regenmeister" (Rain Master) title... Made me cry a little.

 

seems to really be helping the mercs

 

I gave him a 10 on his spin out. Only a Regenmeister could pull that a spin like that so fabulously.

 

Ross is a genius. God knows what they were doing with the Ferraris when they were winning back to back.

 

^His greatest stroke of genius is peddling off his team after the "silly season" in '09. He polished that turd up real nice to dupe Mercedes and the Arabs from buying it from him.