MERCEDES may have cracked a unique way of maintaining its advantage over its Formula 1 rivals into the 2016 season.

The secret? Wi-Fi!

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MERCEDES WIELDS WI-FI IN F1’S TYRE WAR

You may have noticed two big black handlebar-like cylinders up near the Mercedes W07’s airbox during testing in Barcelona last week.

Those two devices are thermal cameras, recording temperatures across the tread of the tyre in real time. In this era of rapidly-degrading rubber, knowing how its car is using its tyres will be one of the keys to Mercedes maintaining its remarkable run of success.

It could also be responsible for improving Wi-Fi technology.

The cameras generate gigabytes of information for the team’s engineers to analyse at the end of a run, but getting it out of the car proved to be a major bottleneck.

Downloading the data would take the best part of half an hour, hampering the team’s ability to make quick decisions on setup changes and reducing the amount of runs they could do in a practice session.

The team asked Qualcomm Technologies to see if they could develop a faster way of downloading the information.

“We came up with a way of downloading that data using a highly modified 5 gigahertz Wi-Fi system, such as that when the car approaches the garage the data download starts occurring,” Qualcomm’s Graeme Davison told motorsport.com.

The system first saw action in late 2015.

The system was first used at Austin last year, allowing the thermal data to be downloaded at rates of 200 to 600 megabytes per second, improving to the point that downloading the tyre data causes no delay at all. In fact, Lewis Hamilton attributes the incredible number of laps Mercedes clocked in Barcelona to how little time they wasted downloading data.

But Qualcomm’s work isn’t finished there. They are already looking towards the next evolution of the system, capable of downloading at a rate of four gigabytes per second — and the lessons learnt could be responsible for boosting your Wi-Fi signal in the future.

“We are already looking at ... moving from the 5 gigahertz 802.11ac system to the 60 gig 802.11ad system,” Davison explained.

“This system was designed for use in buildings. It’s short ranged but it has a very, very wide bandwidth.

“So we are now looking if we can put this system in an environment it wasn’t designed for, which allows us to rapidly understand how we can improve that technology so it can be used in an environment where there is the possibility of smog, moisture and rain, things that affect a 802.11ad because of its very high frequency.

“But that’s what motorsport gives us: an environment where we can do very rapid developments.”

FERRARI LOOKING TO GET OUT OF ‘DETENTION’

Ferrari may have topped the timesheets for much of the opening Barcelona test, but there are no delusions of grandeur at Maranello.

Team principal Maurizio Arrivabene made it clear that the team is acutely aware of where they are in F1’s pecking order.

“The question is not ‘how good are we’,” he told La Stampa. “Rather how strong are Mercedes-Benz, for they are still first in class.”

His schooling analogy didn’t end there.

“We need to ensure at this stage that we will thoroughly solve our homework before the season starts. Two years ago, we failed. A year ago we had detention. Now we want to move a notch higher.”

It had been hoped Ferrari would be a regular challenger, but analysis of the Barcelona test times suggest Mercedes will again be the strongest car on the grid as the year gets underway.

But, as Ferrari proved on three occasions, even the best have their bad days.

Or as Arrivabene, entering football analogy mode, put it: “They have the ball, we have to catch them on the wrong foot.”

Maurizio Arrivabene. Source: Getty Images

NEW PAINT, NEW CARBON, NEW BITS

Most of the teams had muted launches of their new cars ahead of the last Barcelona launch, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be anything new to see when testing resumes this week.

Sauber have unveiled their 2016 machine ahead of the test, the new C35 set to make its track debut after the team used their 2015 car at the opening test.

The Sauber C35 Ferrari. Source: Supplied

Down at Toro Rosso, Red Bull’s junior team will unveil their livery for the 2016 season after running in an elegantly simple plain blue livery at Barcelona 1.

A shame, really. Whatever they’ve come up with will be hard to improve on the natural lines of the STR11.

The Toro Rosso gets its clothes for Barcelona 2. Source: Getty Images

Meanwhile, most teams will bring the first round of evolutionary components to test and trial on their cars now they have data from the opening test to offer a comparison.

Both Renault and Honda are expected to run upgraded components in their power units, with both Daniel Ricciardo and Jenson Button commenting last week that their respective engine manufacturers would have new bits for the second test.

DRIVER LINEUPS FOR BARCELONA 2

DAY 1 — Tuesday March 1

Mercedes: Nico Rosberg (morning); Lewis Hamilton (afternoon)

Ferrari: Kimi Raikkonen

McLaren: Fernando Alonso

Red Bull: Daniil Kvyat

Toro Rosso: Max Verstappen

Williams: Valtteri Bottas

Force India: Nico Hulkenberg

Sauber: Felipe Nasr

Renault: Kevin Magnussen

Haas: Esteban Gutierrez

Manor: Rio Haryanto

DAY 2 — Wednesday March 2

Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton (morning); Nico Rosberg (afternoon)

Ferrari: Sebastian Vettel

McLaren: Jenson Button

Red Bull: Daniel Ricciardo

Toro Rosso: Carlos Sainz

Williams: Valtteri Bottas

Force India: Sergio Perez

Renault: Kevin Magnussen

Sauber: Marcus Ericsson

Haas: Esteban Gutierrez

Manor: TBC

DAY 3 — Thursday March 3

Mercedes: Nico Rosberg (morning); Lewis Hamilton (afternoon)

Ferrari: Kimi Raikkonen

McLaren: Fernando Alonso

Red Bull: Daniil Kvyat

Force India: Nico Hulkenberg

Toro Rosso: Max Verstappen

Williams: Felipe Massa

Renault: Jolyon Palmer

Sauber: Felipe Nasr

Haas: Romain Grosjean

Manor: TBC

DAY 4 — Friday March 4

Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton (morning); Nico Rosberg (afternoon)

Ferrari: Sebastian Vettel

McLaren: Jenson Button

Red Bull: Daniel Ricciardo

Toro Rosso: Carlos Sainz

Williams: Felipe Massa

Force India: Sergio Perez

Renault: Jolyon Palmer

Sauber: Marcus Ericsson

Haas: Romain Grosjean

Manor: TBC

— Courtesy of Sky Sports

McLaren will rebound, says former long-time staffer. Source: AFP

MCLAREN IS ‘A SLEEPING GIANT’

That’s the assessment of a man who should know. After all, Dave Ryan was part of the fabric at McLaren for 34 years.

Ryan exited the team in ignominious circumstances after he and Lewis Hamilton were found to have lied to the stewards in the wake of the 2009 Australian Grand Prix.

After several years out of the sport Ryan joined the reborn Manor team as its racing director late last year.

While he was away, McLaren slipped from its perch as one of the sport’s dominant teams to one of its tail-end Charlies, a slide exacerbated by Honda’s struggles in the hybrid era.

But Ryan knows that staying down is not part of McLaren’s DNA, and he fully expects the team to bounce back.

Let’s be honest, McLaren is a bit of a sleeping giant at the moment,” Ryan told Autosport.

“They haven’t had a good few years, and last year was particularly difficult I would say, but they’ve the potential to get it right.

“They’re hurting, but if they get it right they will be right back up at the sharp end. They’ve a huge number of very clever people.

“It’s a question of when, not if.”

RALLIES HAVE A DIFFERENT MEANING IN AUSTIN

While the 2016 edition of the United States Grand Prix is still up in the air, the Circuit of the Americas is continuing to hold events over the American winter.

Just a few days ago they held a rally. No, not that kind of rally, sadly. A US Presidential campaign rally.

Democrat hopeful Bernie Sanders spoke in front of a crowd of thousands, trying to swing the hearts of Texans ahead of the crucial Super Tuesday vote.

Official crowd count for @BernieSanders Austin Tx rally just over 10,000 people #BernieinAustin pic.twitter.com/brpEd23WfI — MaryAlice Parks (@maryaliceparks) February 27, 2016

The massive venue is regularly used for events requiring large gatherings of people, with several concerts set to be held at the track as the US summer approaches.

However, as at March 1, the Circuit of the Americas website still makes no mention of a Grand Prix being held at the venue this year, although their social media channels still comment on F1 regularly.