With Ferrari bringing significant updates to their car over the first four races, Mercedes needed to respond with a vengeance in Barcelona. The result of this response is what appears to be their real challenger for the rest of the year, as many of the changes to the W08 are to critical areas of the car that require huge resources to develop.
It is no secret that the Silver Arrow has a slight weight problem, somewhere in the region of 5-10kg above the minimum. For Spain there are believed to be a number of areas where the car has lost some excess fat, including the new specification power unit (dubbed as ‘phase two’) and also the gearbox housing, which acts as the rear crash structure and hosts not only the gearbox ‘cartridge’ but also the rear-suspension components. Reducing the weight of the car behind the driver will help bring the centre of gravity forward and create more freedom to place ballast across the car.
Externally there were a number of aerodynamic modifications from front to rear that completely transform the appearance of the W08. At the front, the camera pods are now mounted to beautifully sculptured vanes that extend backwards towards the upper part of nose box, which has been pinched to reduce weight – the internal structure of the new nose is such that it has required a new crash test.
Delicate bodywork formed underneath the nose further contributes to the structural changes, and it appears as though inspiration has been drawn from the Coke-bottle and rear diffuser section of the car. Curling up at its leading edge, a mini-floor with diffuser-like channels forms towards the back of the nose while the bodywork above converges tightly towards the rear. It is not possible to replicate the ground effect that the diffuser experiences at this height, so the device is not necessarily used to induce downforce but most likely to improve the quality of the air being fed towards the bargeboards. This could help the driver follow another car more closely – a weakness of the Mercedes in recent years – as we saw Lewis Hamilton do during the first stint of the race on Sunday.
Speaking of bargeboards, a series of minor tweaks were made to both the geometry of the baffles that hang from the sidepod shoulder and to the large complex turning vanes – three additional mini vanes (above) now stem from its base. Their effects on the overall direction of the airflow in this region will be negligible but they could help the car’s aerodynamic operating window by encouraging the air towards its intended destination.
At the rear Mercedes have moved away from their low-drag rear-wing concept in favour of a traditional arrangement that features a straight leading edge and therefore a higher angle of attack at the wing tips. The chord length of the main plane varies, however, and the upper flaps curve down at the endplates, reducing the strength of the wing tip vortices. While this directly produces more rear downforce, it can only be introduced due to improvements made at the front end to keep the balance of the car neutral. The new wing is paired to a two-element monkey seat winglet, its wake entraining the exhaust plume and connecting the upper and lower aerostructures together.
Finally, the shark fin engine cover has been extended and now connects with the T-wing via a bracket, reducing the flex of both components. Not only will this provide the necessary area to display the driver name and number but it will further the sail effect that helps the car during initial turn-in.
