Technical specifications of Lewis Hamilton’s new 2018 Mercedes F1 W09 EQ Power+ car

Affectionately dubbed a ‘diva’ for its occasional lack of predictability, the 2017 Mercedes F1 challenger was nevertheless the most successful car of the past season, with Hamilton claiming his fourth world title.

The aerodynamic regulations remain largely stable for the 2018 season, with the introduction of the Halo and the ban of both monkey seat and high T-wings being the biggest changes.

So Hamilton’s Silver Arrows team chose to follow a similar design philosophy, aimed at developing the many strengths of the 2017 car and improving its weaker areas.

“We like some of the character traits from our diva,” said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.

“The W08 was the fastest car on the grid, scoring the highest number of pole positions and winning the most races last year. So we were careful not to lose the car’s many strengths just to overcome the difficulties.”

Technical director James Allison added: “Last year’s car was never easy to work with, even at the tracks where we were strong.

“We could find our way through the weekend to a competitive outcome, but it was never easy.

“We hope that we have made some inroads into that and that this year’s car will speak to us as engineers and to the drivers a little more clearly so that it is more obvious what to do to dial it in.”

The new car stays true to the general design principles of its championship-winning predecessor, retaining the same wheelbase and running slightly increased rake.

However, working with a well-understood set of regulations meant the team could push the design to greater extremes in every area.

“Across the board, this design is more elegant than last year,” said James.

“Last year’s regulations were brand new and we weren’t quite sure which direction they would take us in.

“So last year’s car had a certain amount of wiggle room to adapt if we had found that we needed to move around certain aspects of the car.

“This year, being a little more confident of what we’re aiming for, we’ve been able to commit more fully to certain concepts.

“So we have the packaging much tighter and have taken things to more of an extreme.”

There have been significant updates to the power unit for 2018.

The new power unit M09 EQ Power+ has been developed to meet substantial changes in the Sporting Regulations for the 2018 season.

The reduction in the number of power unit components that can be used per driver per season without incurring grid penalties meant that durability had to be extended to withstand the higher distances the hardware now has to run.

“The amount of change on the power unit for this year is quite considerable and driven by a number of requirements,” explained Andy Cowell.

“The biggest challenge we’ve got is lifting our durability limit with the challenge of racing just three engines per driver per championship and two ERS systems.

The launch of the F1 W09 EQ Power+ at Silverstone [Picture: Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd] (Image: Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.)

“That’s a 40 per cent increase in the distance that the hardware needs to do for this year compared with last year. We focussed on trying to increase the life of the hardware without losing performance.”

In addition to the changes coming from the new Sporting Regulations, the team of Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains sought to improve the power unit in other areas as well.

“We also wanted to change the packaging of the power unit for the benefit of overall car performance,” added Andy.

“We’ve been working very closely with our colleagues in Brackley, trying to understand the best overall integration in the chassis, the transmission and the aerodynamic surfaces.

“We’ve also been working on combustion efficiency and hardware friction reduction in partnership with Petronas.”

• Mercedes-AMG F1 W09 EQ Power+ Technical Specification

• Chassis

Monocoque: Moulded carbon fibre and honeycomb composite structure

Bodywork: Carbon fibre composite including engine cover, sidepods, floor, nose, front wing and rear wing

Cockpit: Removable driver’s seat made of anatomically formed carbon composite, OMP six-point driver safety harness, HANS system

Safety Structures: Cockpit survival cell incorporating impact-resistant construction and penetration panels, front impact structure, prescribed side impact structures, integrated rear impact structure, front and rear roll structures, titanium driver protection structure (halo)

Front Suspension: Carbon fibre wishbone and pushrod-activated torsion springs and rockers

Rear Suspension: Carbon fibre wishbone and pullrod-activated torsion springs and rockers

Wheels: OZ forged magnesium

Tyres: Pirelli

Brake System: Carbone Industries Carbon / Carbon discs and pads with rear brake-by-wire

Brake Calipers: Brembo

Steering: Power-assisted rack and pinion

Steering Wheel: Carbon fibre construction

Electronics: FIA standard ECU and FIA homologated electronic and electrical system

Instrumentation: McLaren Electronic Systems (MES)

Fuel System: ATL Kevlar-reinforced rubber bladder

Lubricants & Fluids: PETRONAS Tutela.

• Transmission

Gearbox: Eight speed forward, one reverse unit with carbon fibre maincase

Gear Selection: Sequential, semi-automatic, hydraulic activation

Clutch: Carbon plate.

• Dimensions

Overall Length: Over 5000mm

Overall Width: 2000mm

Overall Height: 950mm

Overall Weight: 733kg.

• Mercedes-AMG F1 M09 EQ Power+ Technical Specification

• Power Unit Specification

Type: Mercedes-AMG F1 M09 EQ Power+

Minimum Weight: 145 kg

Power Unit Perimeter: Internal Combustion Engine (ICE)

Motor Generator Unit - Kinetic (MGU-K)

Motor Generator Unit - Heat (MGU-H)

Turbocharger (TC)

Energy Store (ES)

Control Electronics (CE)

Power Unit Allocation: Three ICE, TC & MGU-H per driver per season

Two MGU-K, ES, CE per driver per season.

• Internal Combustion Engine (ICE)

Capacity: 1.6 litres

Cylinders: Six

Bank Angle: 90

No of Valves: 24

Max rpm ICE: 15,000 rpm

Max Fuel Flow Rate: 100 kg/hour (above 10,500 rpm)

Fuel Injection: High-pressure direct injection (max 500 bar, one injector/cylinder)

Pressure Charging: Single-stage compressor and exhaust turbine on a common shaft

Max rpm Exhaust Turbine: 125,000 rpm.

• Energy Recovery System (ERS)

Architecture: Integrated Hybrid energy recovery via electrical Motor Generator Units

Energy Store: Lithium-Ion battery solution of minimum 20 kg regulation weight

Max energy storage/lap: 4 MJ

Max rpm MGU-K: 50,000 rpm

Max power MGU-K: 120 kW (161 hp)

Max energy recovery/lap MGU-K: 2 MJ

Max energy deployment/lap MGU-K: 4 MJ (33.3 s at full power)

Max rpm MGU-H: 125,000 rpm

Max power MGU-H: Unlimited

Max energy recovery/lap MGU-H: Unlimited

Max energy deployment/lap MGU-H: Unlimited.

• Fuel & Lubricants

Fuel: PETRONAS Primax

Lubricants: PETRONAS Syntium.