Remember the 2014 Formula One season? It was the year Mercedes-AMG Petronas had their major breakout, dethroning Red Bull and claiming both the Driver and Constructors’ titles.
Since then, things haven’t really changed all that much with regards to how dominant Mercedes have been in this modern hybrid era. Yet, the cars themselves have changed quite a lot, boasting improved performance and downforce.
In 2017, Formula 1 cars became wider. In fact, the wider tires, wider tracks and new front and rear wings made it possible for them to corner a lot faster than before. However, that’s not the only reason why Hamilton’s 2018 car lapped Barcelona a full nine seconds quicker than his 2014 car.
The truth is, the Mercedes W04 from 2014, despite weighing a bit less than today’s car, only produced somewhere between 760 and 850 horsepower, whereas this year’s W09 model is good for upwards of 1,000 horses.
So it’s the combination of more power and more downforce that makes the current car that much faster than its predecessor from four years ago, or should we say its ancestor?
The difference is painfully obvious looking at this clip. The new car can corner a lot faster, accelerate out of corners quicker and actually seems a lot easier to drive. There’s a lot less steering wheel input from Lewis in the W09 than in the W04.
This in turn raises the question of whether or not a faster Formula 1 car can be more boring to drive than a slower one. What say you?
https://youtu.be/gDOrXqSGIM4