Breaking news
Formula 1
Mercedes explains how W11 design tackles cooling issues
The Mercedes Formula 1 team has focussed on improving the cooling package of the new W11 – and that process has been helped by the 2020 power unit operating at a higher temperature than its predecessor.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Feb 15, 2020, 12:41 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Last year's W10 had cooling issues that the team could not fully address during the season because of limitation on radiator capacity.
The weakness was especially apparent in the Austrian GP, when extremely hot weather compromised the overall performance of the car.
"We've improved the cooling package," said technical director James Allison. "We've created more face area – so more actual radiator area in the car – which is a difficult thing to do mid-season without incurring quite a lot of penalty.
"But between the years you can do it and it won't cost you except a little bit of weight.
"We've also benefitted from an investment that HPP have made on our behalf. They've worked to raise the operating temperature of the engine which eases the cooling burden on us because the hotter the fluid, the less radiator you need to cool it."
Read Also:
- Mercedes opts against 'entire new car' approach for first race
- What's behind Mercedes' extreme new sidepods
HPP engine boss Andy Cowell explained that the process had begun last year – even before Austria – but the team has taken another step in 2020.
"At the beginning of last year, the cooling capacity of our car was insufficient, which resulted in some challenging races," said Cowell. "At the opening two races, when it became clear we didn't have enough cooling capacity, we started working on proving out the power unit at higher temperature limits.
"By Austria we had managed to prove out an extra four degrees on the water temperature which helped make the Spielberg race slightly more bearable, but it was still a very painful weekend for the team.
"Since then, we have continued that trajectory, so we're trying to contain the total heat rejection that needs to be cooled by the chassis cooling systems.
"For this year, 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.
"That's a tough challenge though, because large parts of the engine are made from aluminium and the temperatures that we are operating at mean the material properties are decaying quite rapidly.
"Managing that over an eight-race distance power unit cycle is a tough engineering challenge but that's what we are striving for."
Cowell stressed that the engine side of the team has to help the chassis side.
"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."
Mercedes has also placed a focus on reliability after some issues in 2019, although world champion Lewis Hamilton finished the season without penalty.
"We were very pleased and proud of the reliability achieved with Lewis' hardware," said Cowell. "But we were saddened by the low-life failures that we experienced with other drivers and that's what we are focusing on.
"We are concentrating on understanding the reasons, the quality issues that we encountered and we are working hard to make sure we have got robust containment in place based on the root cause of those issues.
"Twenty-two races mean one power unit needs to do eight races, so there is an increase in the number of cycles that all the hardware needs to do, putting an even bigger emphasise on reliability."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Mercedes opts against 'entire new car' approach for first race
Next article Looking for the ultimate way to experience the 2020 French GP?
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Apr 10, 2024
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1 Apr 10, 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1 Apr 10, 2024
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
More from
Mercedes
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
Formula 1
Formula 1 1 d
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
Kimi Antonelli meets Italian president Sergio Mattarella
Formula 1
Formula 1 1 d
Kimi Antonelli meets Italian president Sergio Mattarella
Latest news
Yamaha may not be competitive immediately in MotoGP's 850cc era, says Pramac
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
3 h
Yamaha may not be competitive immediately in MotoGP's 850cc era, says Pramac
You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller
MotoGP
Qatar GP
You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller
Why the anticlimactic WEC title showdown was the worst-case scenario
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
7 h
Why the anticlimactic WEC title showdown was the worst-case scenario
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe