Mercedes’ radical new airbox and more pictures from Thursday in Spain
Mercedes' new split air intake
Mercedes’ revised W01 includes a radical new airbox which sees the conventional single intake replaced with two separate holes on either side of the car.
See below for more pictures of the design along with Virgin’s new engine cover and more pictures from pre-race preparation at the Circuit de Catalunya.
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- Virgin ‘shark fin’ engine cover with new sponsor logo
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- Mark Webber signs autographs
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- Mercedes with new airbox
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- Mercedes with new airbox
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- Mercedes with new airbox
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- McLaren front wing
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- Jenson Button’s barmy army
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- Ferrari front wing
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- Sauber garage
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- Williams garage
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- Force India garage
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- Toro Rosso garage
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- Toro Rosso front wing
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- Lotus garage
2010 Spanish Grand Prix
- 2010 Spanish Grand Prix – the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
- Whitmarsh: Rim failure put Hamilton out
- Hamilton denies Webber a perfect result (Spanish Grand Prix facts and stats)
- Spanish Grand Prix in pictures
- Super start helps Alguersuari to points finish (Spanish Grand Prix analysis)
- Spanish Grand Prix fastest laps
- Webber dominates as Hamilton crashes out of second
- Spanish Grand Prix result
- Championship points after Spain
- Rate the race – Spain
Image (C) F1Fanatic.co.uk
Peter said on 6th May 2010, 19:08
Thanks for the pics, Keith. First site that shows the “complete” Mercedes car ;)!
PJA said on 6th May 2010, 19:09
My initial reaction is that I think the traditional airbox looks better but I will have to wait to see what the Mercedes looks like in action on track.
Spud said on 6th May 2010, 19:20
Oh my dear Lord!
That air intake is horrible.
Then again if it works, they won’t care.
Form after function, is that how it goes??
James said on 6th May 2010, 20:09
I can remember someone commenting on the Ferrari Marlboro story earlier in the week about the lack of gambling companies sponsering F1 teams… Looks like Beardy Branson is reading this! =P
Icthyes said on 6th May 2010, 20:15
The new airbox looks alright to me – less of an eyesore than those shark fins. Have Mercedes said what the purpose of it is?
Catalina ;) said on 6th May 2010, 20:40
hope it works for Mercedes ;)
Glenn said on 6th May 2010, 20:48
http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/photolarge.php?photoID=152263&catID=1102-4460
Well I guess this picture answers my question. seems like they are only running the opening on one side.
Woffin said on 6th May 2010, 21:51
I hope for the sake of Michael’s neck that the crash structure on the new Mercedes air intake is as robust as the traditional design.
John H said on 6th May 2010, 23:07
So Ferrari have removed the barcode? ***. What was Montezemolo on about then… He got up on his high horse and then decided not to ride?
Patrickl said on 6th May 2010, 23:32
I have to say I’m surprised the Mercedes looks hardly changed.
Sure, the airbox intake is moved back, but other than that it’s pretty much the same as it was when the car was introduced:
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2010/02/01/mercedes-w01-debuts-in-valencia-pictures/merc_w01_2010_vale/
Patrickl said on 6th May 2010, 23:48
That McLaren front wing is a piece of art. The Ferrari front wing looks nice too. More minimalistic.
BTW Why didn’t you bring a real camera Keith? Although I also have to admit these pictures look extremely good for a camera phone.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 7th May 2010, 0:49
I did, but the camera didn’t work. Infuriatingly, now that I’ve tried it again it’s working fine. Fortunately I had my phone with me as a back-up.
Patrickl said on 7th May 2010, 9:24
Ha, ha, that’s Murphy’s law for ya :)
Cobray said on 7th May 2010, 0:52
It looks like they planned this for a while I could never figure out exactly why the airbox was split in the first place. Now I know why. Excuse my amauterish description but it almost looks like they removed part of the airbox there. I suppose this could be due to good temperature readings so far in the season from the engine that allows a bit more sacrifice to be made in terms of cooling it for more aero efficiency in return or Mercedes using their risky in terms of reliability wild card to put themselves further ahead at this point in the season.
It amuses me how different the ferrari one looks now in comparisson.
F1Fan said on 7th May 2010, 1:01
They can use a nuclear engine and still won’t win the race. I sense Alonso will be very strong here, but he will need at least 3rd place in Q to win.
wasiF1 said on 7th May 2010, 1:41
Alonso may be strong but the Ferrari engine is the biggest concern, I still believe that Red Bull won’t disappoint us this weekend.
wasiF1 said on 7th May 2010, 1:40
Still not sure how ill the new modification will help Mercedes to get more grip. But as some people have pointed out that it may help to allow more air through the rear wing which will increase more rear end grip the thing that was missing so far from Mercedes.& when Ross is working be sure that that thing is not there only for the show.
DaveW said on 7th May 2010, 3:15
The Mercedes airbox(es) will soon look like this: http://www.grandprixlegends.com/Images/Products/XLarge_Images/P900120_1.jpg.
The 1989 roll hoops put current concerns into perspective.