It has been a year of brilliance for Mercedes this year in 2014. With 16 race wins, 1 drivers title and the constructors all wiped up by the Brackley based team. But why all a sudden was the Mercedes WO5 so good, what made the car simply unbeatable in 2014?
Chassis
They made an inverted ‘U’ section to form the tip of the nose cone that meets the 9000 mm cross-section regulations. So this was able to open a door for a neat S-duct system. Rather than have air entering in via the splitter under the tub they could then have their air entrance hole right at the tip of the nose. Which meant under the tub they could concentrate on the T-tray and turning vanes. Which were the best kind on the grid. They worked very well with the side pod conditioners with applying a very neat air flow for in then to pass to the rear wing and Y100 winglet (monkey seat)
Also looking at their front wing that was very well designed too. Joining the mainplanes was 5 little vortex generators which work with the wheel wake of the car and cascade by pushing more air around the car’s front tyre’s. On the endplate they ran an outboard canard all year-long. This was a nice touch to the front wing as there’s faced down not up so more air was pushed to the lower section of the car. So they got an even better effect out of the rear diffuser and rear floor squirts.
Also at the rear Mercedes have amazingly led the way in this area, with plenty of developments of the car. One of their neat tricks was the Y100 winglet. They developed a nice 1 tier configuration in between a set of endplates. This created very minimal down force at tracks like Monza and Spa. And simply added an extra tier to create a huge exhaust plume effect therefore adding downforce. Many teams missed this neat extra solution and Mercedes after years of development found a small loop-hole in the regulations to design the best Y100 winglet of 2014.
The rear wing was also quite nice as it didn’t provide much downforce in comparison to the Red Bull RB10 or Ferrari F14T. But this was due to the very advanced Power Unit. They ran quite long but thin lourves on the endplate so that the car would create downforce but not so much that top speed would be compromised.
Gearbox
The Mercedes gearbox is sandwiched within a very long carbon case so that it can host the rear crash structure to save weight at the rear. Which was in-between the two bulkheads. However the Mercedes layout is quite allot different the gearbox itself is a cartridge which is then fixed to the carbon fibre case itself. So no oil is running through the case itself, it is all lubricated within the cartridge itself. Williams chose not to run the Mercedes gearbox due to their own design, but the Williams configuration was not as good as the Mercedes which was also lighter to Williams. This also provides less stress on the gearbox itself which we saw as only one gearbox failed for Mercedes in 2014.
ERS
Mercedes ran a fairly good ERS (energy recovery system) in 2014. It was mounted neatly under the fuel tank and mounted right in front of the engine and under the compressor. This then created less AC cables from the ERS to the batter so that electrical energy was then extracted quicker than other teams.
Power Unit
I’ve saved the best to last. The Mercedes PU (power unit) has been in outstanding form this year. And therefore creating the best title fight in over a decade. It has been on a totally different level to Renault and Ferrari. What was good about the Mercedes engine was the turbo which was mounted on the car centerline fairly normal. What Mercedes done was split the turbo into two, big one and a small one. With a turbo you have exhaust run turbine which links with the compressor and squeezes more air and oxygen into the combustion chamber as well as more fuel which will all ignite in the chamber therefore pushing the crankshaft quicker and so one. On the front of the engine we see this huge circular disc that is the turbo charger which is bigger to any another turbo’s in F1 and is slight smaller to a truck! By putting the compressor at the front of the engine it allows Mercedes to have much smaller runs to the turbo through the intercooler and back into the engine which reduces turbo lag as everything is happening in an instant.
Sitting in the “V” of the engine is the motor-generator unit (MGU) which recovers energy from the turbo charger itself. by mounting it on the center shaft it reduces atortional problems which other teams would be having due to not been mounting onto the center shaft. Mercedes designed a very good system as the shaft was able to bend with the two turbo’s as they lose or gain speed or momentum. So less vibrations from the engine itself also. The case itself is built-in house with Mercedes but most of its inner fittings are built out house by specialists.
When you look at the side of the engine you can see its exhaust manifold which normally in Formula 1 is like spaghetti draped over the two banks of the engine they then merge into a collector and up and over into the turbo which is normally used on normally aspirated engine (no turbo) Mercedes have these very small ‘log style exhaust’ wrapped in heat shielding so that the MGU-K in the til pipe has an even greater effect as more heat and energy is pumped towards the small fan which acts as a small turbine producing electrical energy to be used in ERS. Rather than having three large pipes joining Mercedes has 3 very very small ones joining instantly in to the log manifold and then back into the turbo charger. This design is for maintain the high pressure in the pipes going into the turbo but can exit by the wait gates if it’s over boosting. So now it’s have better overall cylinder filling in combustion. This was a very addition in testing when they found an alternative manifold design. They are situated very close to the bank of the engine and barley stick out. So the side pod housing could be allot smaller thanks to less space being used. The car could then create less drag as a redesigned manifold took up less bodywork thanks to its new and improved but very small manifold on the WO5.
At the top of the engine we have the inlets which are fed from the intercooler from the turbo charger where the air goes back in the “V” of the engine. Normally we have the inlets coming into a plenum which is a big black box above the engine. What Mercedes have done is have two inlets similar to a LMP2 car which will then feed each back of the engine (so have three cylinders per inlet) air will be sent straight into the chamber which is more effective way of getting the air down in the chamber rather than sitting in a big plenum above the engine waiting to be taken in by the throttle bodies. Back to the front of the engine we have the orange AC cables which shows us where the MGU are on the engine. Which generate power when your of the throttle and when you’re using ERS. Behind the turbo charger on the Mercedes PU is the MGU-H. On the far side we have the MGU-K which is a 160 BHP electric motor and dives the crank by a set gears.
Mercedes have created an all time great with the 2014 engine. It will be remembered for many years as being the most dominant in a Formula 1 season. There power unit produced an extra 70 BHP to other cars with a possible more 70 BHP from there new and updated ERS system.
