Interpretive research design concepts and processes

Mercedes’ team principal Toto Wolff has admitted the improvements the team made in the second half of last season gave it too much faith in the concept behind its Formula 1 car design. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free Following an unsuccessful start to last year, Mercedes significantly improved its car and won the penultimate round of the championship in Brazil. The team retained the concept behind last year’s chassis in the new car it launched for the 2023 season. However at the season-opening round in Bahrain the team discovered it was far off the pace of dominant winners Red Bull, and confirmed it will overhaul the design of the W14. Wolff said the performance gains Mercedes made with the W13 persuaded it to persist with its deign philosophy. “We had the perfect storm last year,” he explained. “The car got better and then you start to question the concept of the car less than you probably should. “Now we have to prove that we are not happy where we’ve … [Read more...] about “Perfect storm” gave Mercedes too much faith in its car design concept – Wolff · RaceFans

Listen to this article The German manufacturer has had a difficult start to the new season, with its 2023 F1 challenger proving to be no match for the dominant Red Bull team. Straight after qualifying for the season-opener in Bahrain, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said that the squad had already thrown the towel in on its design concept and would start work in a completely new direction. While his comments after just a single competitive session prompted some to suggest the team was acting in haste, it has since emerged that Mercedes knew many weeks before that it needed to do something different. Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has revealed that Mercedes had reached a conclusion about the limits of the W14 in the wind tunnel when it realised improvements were not coming as easily as it hoped. "You can look at your development rates in the wind tunnel, and before we even got to Bahrain, there were conversations about looking at bigger [concept] departures," … [Read more...] about Mercedes knew limits of W14 F1 car concept before Bahrain

2023 marks the 57th gathering of Jeeps in Moab, Utah for the annual Easter Jeep Safari. As usual, Jeep is attending along with upwards of 20,000 off-road enthusiasts. This year, the automaker has seven concept vehicles to show off. In a nod to its electrified future, three are plug-in hybrids and one is a fully electric concept we've seen before. Mostly, anyway. These are all concept vehicles, so don't expect to see them at dealerships. However, some are built to showcase the plethora of performance parts and accessories available to Jeep owners, making them somewhat attainable depending on how much you want to accessorize. Let's take a look at the rock-crawling collection for this year's festivities. Jeep Grand Wagoneer Overland Concept Easily the biggest concept of this bunch, the large-and-luxurious Grand Wagoneer certainly has plenty of room for stretching out. This concept adds a Skyloft pop-top roof with sleeping accommodations for two, … [Read more...] about 2023 Easter Jeep Safari Sees Electrified Cherokee Restomod Among 7 Concepts

At the beginning of the year, the Volkswagen Group announced Bentley design boss Andreas Mindt would move to the core VW brand to replace Jozef Kaban from February 1. Mindt started his career at the German automotive conglomerate back in 1996 and was involved in the design process of the first-generation Tiguan and the Golf Mk7. He also worked on the Audi A1, Q3, Q8, and E-Tron GT, as well as the 1999 Bentley Hunaudières concept. In an interview with Top Gear magazine, Mindt said it was "so easy" to design the Bentley Batur as opposed to the Volkswagen ID2.all concept – the first project at his new job. He explained that designing the Continental GT-based Batur was easy because it's a wide and low car with a long hood. Volkswagen ID.2all Concept 23 Photos "It’s like taking a penalty in football without a goalkeeper. It's easy to do. A lot of people think … [Read more...] about VW Design Boss Says It’s More Difficult To Design A Small Car Than A Hypercar

Bahrain was not the point where Mercedes found out their W14 concept was the wrong one, but it is not as simple as a sidepod change. Team boss Toto Wolff wielded the axe on the W14 design after just one qualifying session of F1 2023, George Russell qualifying P6 and Lewis Hamilton P7 in Bahrain, with Hamilton claiming P5 and Russell P7 in the race. Saudi Arabia was a better showing for the eight-time Constructors’ champs, Russell crossing the line P4 and briefly promoted to the podium before a penalty for Fernando Alonso was overturned, but such performances are nonetheless way below the level Mercedes desire, the team wanting to fight for title glory once more. And they are expected to search for a route back there by introducing major changes to the W14 as the season goes on, Russell teasing Imola, stop number six on the calendar, as the venue where the first big upgrade could arrive. However, Mercedes did not need the opening rounds of F1 2023 to discover that they had gone … [Read more...] about Mercedes knew about W14 concept worries even before Bahrain weekend

Listen to this article Mercedes endured a torrid 2022 campaign with a car that was crippled by porpoising, but it was confident it would be able to unearth much more potential from an evolution of the same concept. But with the dreaded bouncing all but gone, Mercedes found out in Bahrain's season opener that it had made nowhere near the amount of progress that it had hoped. The Brackley team ended up as the fourth-fastest team in the race behind Red Bull, Ferrari and Aston Martin as Hamilton and team-mate George Russell finished a distant fifth and seventh respectively. "Last year we were very draggy, and we were struggling not only on the straights, but we had to take a much bigger wing and we were equalling if not losing in the corners as well," Hamilton said when asked to explain where Mercedes' deficit is. "This year it's mostly through the corners. Down the streets we're quick, but on exits these guys have a lot of rear end through the majority of the … [Read more...] about Hamilton: Mercedes up to 1.5s per lap slower than Red Bull in F1 race trim

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 6 Americans infected with the coronavirus's omicron variant are less likely to develop symptoms typical of long covid than those who had covid-19 earlier in the pandemic, according to the largest-ever study of who is most vulnerable to being sickened - or debilitated - by the virus's lingering effects. The analysis of nearly 5 million U.S. patients who had covid, a study based on a collaboration between The Washington Post and research partners, shows that 1 in 16 people with omicron received medical care for symptoms associated with long covid within several months of being infected. Patients exposed to the coronavirus during the first wave of pandemic illness - from early 2020 to late spring 2021 - were most prone to develop long covid, with 1 in 12 suffering persistent symptoms. This pattern mirrors what leading doctors who treat long covid - and some scientists … [Read more...] about Long-covid symptoms are less common now than earlier in the pandemic

McLaren have moved to form a ‘technical committee’ to replace the departing James Key from his role as technical director. There’s a sense of deja-vu about the process McLaren are going through at the moment, with sweeping organisation changes being made five years on from the last raft of sweeping changes overseen by CEO Zak Brown. In 2018, team boss Eric Boullier was ousted during the summer, with the team also ditching chief engineer Matt Morris, while chief technical officer Tim Goss lost his position after the poor start to the season with the MCL33. Goss was replaced by James Key, whom McLaren head-hunted from Toro Rosso after the British designer had overseen some remarkably tidy and competitive machines for the small Italian squad. Now, with Andreas Seidl cutting loose from McLaren as Audi came calling for him ahead of their 2026 entry, it’s Key’s turn to fall on his sword as the undeniably poor MCL60 has been a major misstep that has seen team boss Andrea Stella admit … [Read more...] about Who are McLaren’s new tech chiefs following James Key’s departure?

McLaren’s Andrea Stella and Zak Brown have revealed how identifying weaknesses in their technical structure has led to their re-organisation. Ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, McLaren confirmed a full re-organisation of their technical leadership with executive technical director James Key removed from his role. Instead of a single person in charge, McLaren will be turning to an ‘F1 Technical Executive Team’, which will comprise three separate divisions, with all three divisions reporting directly to team boss Andrea Stella. Additional reporting by Michael Lamonato Technical Director for Aerodynamics will be Peter Prodromou, while the team have also signed David Sanchez as Technical Director for Car Concept and Performance – he will join Woking on 1st of January 2024 after a period of gardening leave from Ferrari. McLaren have also internally promoted Neil Houldey to Technical Director for Engineering and Design. Aside from the restructuring, McLaren have also embarked … [Read more...] about Weak and underutilised: McLaren lift the lid on major technical shake-up