What Made Mercedes W11 so Great?
What makes a great Formula One car? Although the argument upon the question is somewhat debatable, according to Amazon web service (AWS) and Mercedes AMG F1 the three technical elements that crucially contribute to a car’s performance are tires, power unit, and aerodynamics. Crucially two manufactured components by the team, that contribute to making a great F1 car are the aerodynamics and power unit components. The combination of mechanical components between the aero bits and the power unit working in harmony in one whole package could translate into a great balance of power and handling of the car.
In 2020 Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team introduced their f1 car, the W11. To some, the Mercedes W11 is the greatest F1 car ever built. Although some might argue that it had a different domination than the previous W07 the Mclaren MP4/4 from 1988 or the 2023 RB19 none of them were as fast as the W11 on track.
How did they build the car to be so fast on the track? The breakdown could be linked to the first paragraph, the mix between the aero package, and the power unit added with the technical innovation of DAS.
Aerodynamics
Regarding the aero package, James Allison stated that “we put new geometry in there that gives us more aerodynamic opportunity, and allows us to get even more downforce”, he also added that According to James Allison, the W11 was an improved version of their 2019 title-winning car, the W10. “More downforce, more power, a little better balance between the speed in one lap and speed in the race”. The team managed to tackle the W10’s issue with the rear stability and improved it to the W11, it had a redesigned rear suspension setup that aimed to fix the rear-end stability issue which also improved the downforce and resulted in a better overall aero package. As a result, the wishbone could be mounted as high and as far back as possible, improving the airflow to the diffuser and resulting in added downforce.
James Allison claimed that the W11 aerodynamics parts would not be possible to achieve without the contribution of the High Performance Powertrain (HPP). “They managed to find fresh horsepower over the winter and also give us a power unit that gives opportunities on the chassis side to develop better aerodynamics. Because they have put a lot of work in to make it so this power unit can operate at elevated temperatures compared to the previous year” said James Allison. James Allison’s statement was backed up by Andy Cowell, managing director at Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains “As Power Unit engineers we don’t just focus on crankshaft power, we also focus a tremendous amount on the packaging and reducing the overheads for the aerodynamicist, so that they can mainly focus on keeping the car planted through the corner.”
Power Unit
The 2020 W11 power unit labelled as Mercedes-AMG M11 EQ Performance, has been overly engineered because Mercedes claimed that the 2019 existing power unit wouldn’t be enough to keep them ahead of the competition, as in 2019 Ferrari had the strongest power unit and dominated the season in terms of engine power and that is what mercedes’s aim to beat in 2020. However due to the FIA finding out some of Ferrari’s technical tricks to the fuel flow monitoring system within their power unit, in 2020 they slipped down to the midfield contender. Additionally, Red Bull and Honda haven’t reached their maximum potential and still lacking behind Mercedes in terms of power unit performance. In short in 2020 Mercedes had the strongest power unit on the grid with no direct rivalry from the competitors.
The previous iteration of the M11 the M10 suffered from extremely hot conditions during the races in 2019, hence to counter that the M11 was developed with a larger radiator in mind to aid a more efficient cooling. Further, Andy Cowell stated “We are putting significant effort into making sure that all the cooling fluids on the Power Unit operate at a higher temperature, this increases the temperature difference between that coolant fluid and the ambient temperature that we are racing in, which increases the effectiveness of the cooling system”. Another key area to improved besides the cooling issue is the reliability aspect of the power unit, “Managing that over an eight-race distance Power Unit cycle [average race span required under F1’s technical regulations] is a tough engineering challenge but that’s what we are striving for” explained Andy Cowell.
Other than the stronger overall package of the power unit, the HPP also made the power unit more efficient in terms of thermal output. According to Crash, the M11 power unit managed to achieve thermal efficiency of over 50% which could be claimed to be the most efficient internal combustion engine ever. This achievement is arguably critical because initially engine produces heat and more heat equals less power meaning less power goes to the wheel, on the other hand, the more efficient the engine is the more energy that can be utilized to produce power instead of wasted as heat output. This led to a greater overall performance and resulted in a better race phase.
Finally, the W11 also fitted with a radical innovation labeled DAS (Dual Axis System). Initially, the system was developed to fix the W10’s qualifying issue where it was said that the W10 was too gentle in getting the tires in their operating window to perform. Furthermore, the system allows the driver to retract the steering wheel to adjust the front suspension toe angle, which affects the car’s balance during cornering and stability in the straight. This mechanism benefitted the car to increase in speed due to reduced drag force and, the possibility of increasing static toe-out for better performances in curves since in straight lines this effect is canceled and the extension of the tire’s life due to the easier to keep the temperature in the desired range.
There have been more dominant cars in F1 one example of it is the 2023 RB19 Red Bull’s cars, but they are not as fast not even close. A true showing of what can happen in a pre-budget cap era with unlimited resources, the best engineers, the best aerodynamicists, and the best drivers at the wheel.