Mercedes has brought a major upgrade package for its 2019 F1 W10 car, which includes a new chassis, a new cooling system and new aerodynamic parts while the 125th anniversary of the Mercedes Motorsport will be celebrated with special new livery.
Firstly, the race at the Hockenheimring will be the 200th Formula 1 outing for Mercedes, and secondly, the brand with the three-pointed star is celebrating 125 years of motorsport.
The Mercedes F1 W10 this weekend we will look at a special combination of colors with more white color, which was their original color, before they have to scratch the color to save some weight which gave them that unique silver look that gave them the name ‘silver arrows’ for which they are famous today.
The halo head protection system reminds us on that event with its scratched white – silver appearance.
New chassis for F1 W10
Mercedes has not brought too many visible improvements to its F1 W10 since the Spanish Grand Prix, but in the last few races there have been rumours that they plan to bring a big upgrade package for their second home Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
The world champions have prepared a new, lighter chassis that has a different lateral safety structure that no longer connects to the vertical aerodynamic element near the sidepod shoulder but ends up bowed upwards (turquoise), connecting with the upper horizontal element.
New mirror mounts
Mercedes has opted for a trend with open case rearview mirrors and complex mounts that teams use to achieve as much aerodynamic benefits as they can (although a much simpler solution would be needed for the mount function itself).
New sidepod deflectors inspired by Haas
For several years, teams have used multiple vertical elements in this area to shape the turbulent airflow from the rotating front wheels, but also helped to shape the airflow coming between the front wheels which is traveling around the sidepods and towards the rear of the car.
Last year, Haas used multiple horizontal slots in this area and Mercedes is now following their path using four curved slots reinforced with metal elements that extend to the double vertical element in front of them.
You can see Haas’s solution in this area at the bottom photo from the last race in Silverstone.
So far, Mercedes has used three connected vertical elements that were linked to a large vertical element behind them (visible on the photo bellow from the 2019 Austrian GP).
A few more photos of the F1 W10 with white nose and cockpit behind the front wheels (all photos are from Auto Motor und Sport).
