Formula One is full of bizarre engineering solutions. Wings on top of wings. Sucker fans. Still-unconfirmed secret hybrid traction control. Also weird: they have tiny little windshields and the new one on Mercedes’ 2017 car stretches my brain. It’s toothed.
It’s very hard to see in photographs, mostly because it’s clear. If you look close at these shots of the new W08 in pre-season testing, you can see that the edge of it is jagged, like the strip of transparent plastic shattered.
I wouldn’t have noticed the little detail myself if the excellent Craig Scarborough hadn’t pointed it out earlier today:
I haven’t been able to find any other team running this set up. They all choose either very short and stubby straight screens, or slightly more curved windshield-esque shapes. Nobody else is doing the Domo-style Mercedes look.
I genuinely have no clue what the aero advantage of this is, but it does go to show how outright strange teams are getting in this super aero F1 year.