The Mercedes AMG F1 W09 EQ Power+ is a Mercedes-Benz Formula One racing car designed and developed under the direction of James Allison, Aldo Costa, Mark Ellis, John Owen, Loïc Serra, Mike Elliott, Jarrod Murphy and Eric Blandin to compete during the 2018 Formula One World Championship. The car was driven by four-time World Drivers' Champion Lewis Hamilton, and Valtteri Bottas, both of whom remained with the team for a sixth and a second season, respectively.
The car was the successor of the Mercedes AMG F1 W08 EQ Power+, continuing the approach with increasing the exposure of Mercedes' electric road car models, whilst AMG was included to reflect the relationship between Mercedes-AMG and Mercedes-Benz. The chassis also continued its numbering as F1 W09 to represent the ninth Formula One car that Mercedes had constructed since 2010. The car made its competitive début at the 2018 Australian Grand Prix, the opening round of the 2018 season. After participating in 21 rounds of Grand Prix racing, the car made its final competition appearance at the season finale race – the 2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, before retirement.
The F1 W09 EQ Power+ took eleven wins (all for Hamilton), thirteen pole positions (eleven for Hamilton and two for Bottas), ten fastest laps (three for Hamilton and seven for Bottas), eight front row lockouts and four 1–2 finishes. Hamilton clinched his fifth World Drivers' Championship at the , the 19th race of the season with two races to spare. The team clinched their fifth consecutive World Constructors' Championship at the , the 20th race of the season with one race to spare. Mercedes became only the second team in the history of F1 to achieve the feat of winning the World Drivers' Championship and the World Constructors' Championship five times in a row – an accomplishment previously only achieved by Scuderia Ferrari between 2000 and 2004.
Design and development
The philosophy of the Mercedes AMG F1 W09 EQ Power+ continued from its predecessor, having an identical wheelbase of , making it as one of the longest wheelbase cars in 2018. However, Mercedes pushed its development in the direction of higher rake, up from 0.9 degrees to 1.2 degrees. Although the car has a rake of 1.2 degrees, this is still a significantly shallower angle than used on either Ferrari SF71H (1.5 degrees) or Red Bull Racing RB14 (1.9 degrees). The Mercedes AMG F1 W09 EQ Power+ was seen as competitive as the Ferrari SF71H in the 2018 Formula One World Championship.
A string of developments was introduced right from the start of the season, by having a long titanium extension from the rear wheel hub to meet up with the outboard end of the upper wishbone, raising its height well above the top of the wheel hub. This gives the airflow travelling from the side-pods to the critical gap between the rear tyres and diffuser a much clearer path than a conventional system. Reducing the angle of the wishbone from inboard to outboard will reduce the roll center height of the rear suspension, gaining a better center of gravity and center of pressure.
At the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Mercedes trialled a spoon-shaped central section with distinctive vortex-generating serrations on the trailing edge of the main profile. The spoon-shaped central section reduces the section of wing towards the outboard ends which will reduce the amount of drag and down-force, however gaining straight line speed when opening the drag reduction system. The jagged serrations which are bonded to the wing underside, will energize the airflow, trying to claw back some of the down-force lost to the narrower outboard ends.
In order to solve the car’s weakness with tyre temperature, a revised front suspension and steering assembly was used, having conventional rockers, torsion bars, inertial central damper and an offset extra rockers. This invention improves better set-up flexibility and causing lesser aerodynamic disruption. Major aerodynamics changes were introduced at the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, with radiator inlets being slimmed down, and the barge-board around the sides-pods changed significantly to increase the speed of the external airflow down the side and the underfloor of the car, creating more down-force. New rear wing end-plates was also seen to develop across the season, giving the rear of the car a more significant balance and grip.
Mercedes introduced a concave rear brake drum at the 2018 Singapore Grand Prix, in combination with the unique rear wheel rim design developed at 2018 Belgian Grand Prix. The innovative design was to reduce rear tyre temperatures from getting too high, allowing temperature closer to the optimum threshold, by gradually building up the rear tyres' core temperature while not overheating its surface. The concave design of the carbon fibre aero-drum around the disc creates an air pressure difference around the wheel rim which causes the hot air to be extracted even faster.
Engine In addition to developing the AMG F1 W09 EQ Power+ chassis, Mercedes unveiled plans to completely redesign their power unit for the 2018 championship to ensure continuous development until the next generation of engine scheduled for début in 2021. The engine was the subject of attention for an engine mode nicknamed "party mode", which delivered a performance boost over one lap and was used by the team in qualifying. The first specification was introduced at the opening round of the 2018 Formula One World Championship season and was used for 7 consecutive races, from Australia to Canada.
A second specification was due to be introduced at the Canadian Grand Prix, however reliability issues prompted Mercedes to introduce at the , naming it as a Phase 2.1 power unit. The third specification was then introduced at the opening round of the 2nd half of the 2018 Formula One World Championship season, the Belgian Grand Prix. For the 1st time in the turbo-hybrid era starting from 2014, Mercedes-AMG F1 M09 EQ Power+ power unit was down on straight line power across the season as compared to the Ferrari 062 EVO power unit used for Ferrari SF71H.
Launch, pre-season and in-season testing The Mercedes AMG F1 W09 EQ Power+ was unofficially unveiled at the Silverstone Circuit with Hamilton and Bottas completing an inaugural shakedown on 22 February 2018. The car took part the pre-season testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on February 26–March 1 and March 6–9. During the eight testing days, the car completed 1040 laps; a total of , equivalent to over 15 race distances. The car was also driven by 2018 FIA Formula 2 driver George Russell during in-season testing at Hungaroring, where he set the then-outright lap record of the circuit at a time of 1:15.575.
Season summary Opening rounds Lewis Hamilton secured his 73rd pole position by breaking the outright lap record again at the with a time of 1m 21.164s, 1 second faster than his 2017 Australian Grand Prix pole position time. Valtteri Bottas crashed out during Qualifying 3 and had to change his gearbox, for which he incurred a five-place grid penalty and thus qualified in fifteenth position. During the race, Mercedes opted for an early pit-stop for Hamilton on lap 19 to cover off Kimi Räikkönen. However, both Haas cars - Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean - suffered retirements due to cross-threaded wheel-nuts being fitted loosely which resulted in an unsafe release into the race track. In an order to retrieve the Romain Grosjean car without compromising the race, race director Charlie Whiting and the stewards decided to call for a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) period.
Sebastian Vettel seized the opportunity by pitting during the VSC period, emerging ahead of Hamilton and Räikkönen. Sebastian Vettel eventually took the win of the race, earning 25 drivers championship points, while Lewis Hamilton earned 18 drivers championship points. Valtteri Bottas could only emerged 8th after recovering from his gearbox penalty. After the 1st race of the season, Ferrari leads by 40 constructor championship points, with Mercedes a further 18 constructor championship points behind. Mercedes confirmed that a software glitch had cost Hamilton and Mercedes a victory which allowed championship rival Sebastian Vettel to capitalize in the season-opening race.
Mercedes were unable to match the outright pace in , where they could only secured the 2nd row of the grid, with Ferrari locking out the front-row. Moreover, Lewis Hamilton took a five place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change and started from ninth on the grid. During the race, Kimi Räikkönen's second pit-stop suffered an unsafe pit release, which promoted Hamilton to the podium, after a healthy recovery run from ninth on the grid. Valtteri Bottas were unable to challenge Sebastian Vettel; although Bottas got within the DRS range, he had to settle for the runner up spot. After the 2nd race of the season, Ferrari leads by 65 constructor championship points, with Mercedes a further 10 constructor championship points behind. Sebastian Vettel extends the drivers' championship lead to Lewis Hamilton by 17 points. The pit-stop incident prompted the FIA to investigate wheel-guns and pit-stop procedures after several unsafe releases.
Once again, Mercedes were unable to match the outright pace in , where they could only secured the second row of the grid, with Ferrari locking out the front-row. During the start of the race, Valtteri Bottas seized the opportunity by overtaking Kimi Räikkönen in Turn 1, while Lewis Hamilton lost a place to Max Verstappen. However, during the first pit-stop, Valtteri Bottas seized the opportunity again by undercutting Sebastian Vettel, giving him the lead of the race. A critical turning point for the race happened on lap 30, where both Toro Rosso cars collided at the hairpin (Turn 14), which resulted in a safety car period. This time however, both Red Bull cars seized the opportunity by pitting for new soft tyres. Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel could not take advantage of the safety car period as they had passed the pit-entry after the safety car was called into action.
Lewis Hamilton stayed out to preserve track position, although Mercedes had an opportunity to bring Hamilton in for a change of tyres. After the safety car restart, both Red Bull cars were strong enough to challenge the Ferrari and Mercedes. Max Verstappen make a bold move to challenge Sebastian Vettel, resulting in both drivers spinning off the track with Vettel losing several positions, due to a damaged floor. Daniel Ricciardo took full advantage of his tyres, overtaking Vettel, Hamilton and Bottas on track, giving him the 1st win of the season. After the 3rd race of the season, Mercedes overturned the lead in the Constructors' Championship by a single point to Ferrari. With Sebastian Vettel suffering a damaged floor towards the end of the race, Lewis Hamilton was able to cut Vettel's lead in the Drivers' Championship back to 9 points.
European and Canadian rounds