Mercedes GP MGP W01

[mike]

interestingly schumacher's lap in Q2 would have put him sixth on the grid.......

[Yups]

Yes Schumacher made a mistake in Q3. Otherwise he would be easily on P6 or at least P7 on the grid.

[WhiteBlue]

On SpeedTV they played a radio transmission with Michael where he was being told to "be careful with applying the throttle and brake too much at the same time or the engine may stall" (or something close to that). Anybody know why this is? Safety reasons possibly, but I'm surprised the threshold is so low that it interferes with driving style?

Apparently the ECU considers a full throttle at the same time as lots of brake force is used as indicative of a problem (e.g. driver hitting the brakes because the throttle is stuck open) and so shuts down the engine.

If true, this is very interesting to me. F1's been with the McLaren SECU for 2 (3?) seasons so far. When it came in, it was universally implemented; everyone had to get used to it at the same time. All the drivers who have debuted in F1 since the SECU came along have known no other way but the SECU. Schumacher, on the other hand, had no experience with the SECU, or it's engine shutdown issue until this season. I believe he's also the only driver with significant driving time pre-SECU to have come back since the SECU has been introduced. Does he use lots of brake under full throttle as part of his driving style? Does not being able to do so now, due to the SECU, explain some of his difficulties? Just speculation at this point, but what does applying large amounts of braking do for the tires at full throttle? Obviously this isn't the only thing at work here, but perhaps this is a missing piece in the puzzle?

I see another aspect to it. If you run a blown diffusor like Merc you want to keep up the exhaust flow as high as possible during cornering. In a very primitive way you can do this by keeping the throttle open and breaking. More advanced applications would play with the engine maps and switch to an alternative map which would retard the ignition and lean the fuel injection.

There is a thread on this trick which was described by James Allan in his blog. Some people believe that Sebastian Vettel's brake holder failure was related to the simultaneous use of the brakes and throttle as was his spark plug failure related to a map that retarded the ignition too much. I see a pretty good chance that Merc - like all other teams are going through the teething problems of the blown diffusor here.

[aral]

Yes Schumacher made a mistake in Q3. Otherwise he would be easily on P6 or at least P7 on the grid.

But the fact is that he DID make a mistake, and so had to take the consequences! There are many other drivers who could also make the same excuses!

[marcush.]

as predicted they had no tyre issues this race.. but it is obvious that does not make the W01 a top car ..with others stumbling ,a podium is possible ,but thats about it.they lack outright pace compared to RB,Macs,and ferrari maybe even renault.

so ...unfortunatelly I have to take back my claim that their car is quick enough ...as we have seen ..it is not.And again oficial statements coming from the team
are citing wrong reasons for them not being contenders for race wins.
the tyre issue ..if there was .is not the root course as it looks.

[ringo]

It's the chassis.
At least we see that it can be consistent throughout the race. Rosberg makes the car look good.

[aral]

It's the chassis.
At least we see that it can be consistent throughout the race. Rosberg makes the car look good.

Surely you mean, "it's NOT the chassis"!! Nico proved that. Schumacher was just plain slow. Look how easily Vettel caught him , passed him, and pulled away! The engine has enough power, so it can only be Schumachers driving skills that are making it look mwdiocre!

[ringo]

The car looks good for to take back 4rth best slot. I didn't mean good enough to run with the bulls or prancing horses or silver donkeys.
This race was similar to malaysia, and could be a coincidence in terms of how the car works. This W01 is a mystery.
Though we see that when the tyres work it can perform above average.

[Morteza]

The car's performance is a mixed bag! Today Rosberg got a podium and I think it is the most he can get out of W01. Button was so close to Nico and I think he finished +0.6 Sec after Rosberg. Schumacher was struggling for his position at the end of the race

[dren]

It looks like Merc ironed out the issues the car had with the upgrades in Valencia, so says Nico Rosberg. He also stated in the post race press conference that the F duct is still not working properly, so there are gains to be had there. If they can improve that, I see them moving closer to Ferrari. The car was certainly better than the Renault this weekend. A lot can change in half of the year, let's see if they keep the development pace up or back off for next year.

[ell66]

It looks like Merc ironed out the issues the car had with the upgrades in Valencia, so says Nico Rosberg. He also stated in the post race press conference that the F duct is still not working properly, so there are gains to be had there. If they can improve that, I see them moving closer to Ferrari. The car was certainly better than the Renault this weekend. A lot can change in half of the year, let's see if they keep the development pace up or back off for next year.

the mercs are a LONG way off the ferrari's and mac's, look at how much lewis pulled away from nico after the safety car and how he was holding up jenson. the ferrair's apeared to have similar pace to the mclarens to.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Mercedes GP are quick enough to consolidate 4th, somthing that appeared in danger with the Renault team looking racey at Canada and Valencia.

However, this is because the uprades the set them back in those 2 GPs were helping instead of hindering them. And on the whole they were still a good 1 second a lap slower than the Red Bull, which was the gap at the previous 2 GP's .
There are other extenuating factors involved, like circuit length and the demand on the cars ie Aero tyre engine...which are different from circuit to circuit.

It was good to see the Rosberg bag a podium, but dont expect to see him or Mercedes there on a consistent basis, becuase the car although improved, is still nowhere near good enough.

[vealio]

"I would be disappointed if we can't. That doesn't mean that we will throw caution to the wind and not focus on next year, because we are aware that this car has got some inherent issues which can only be resolved with next year's car.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85245

[ringo]

It's good rosberg mention the f duct. Mercedes needs a standard Shark fin with the duct in it.

[Agerasia]

Do you not think with the ban on testing that maybe they are actually gearing towards next year. Look at the current rear wing and diffusor on the Merc. Hardly any development at all, same for the front wing.
No F-Duct and altered diffusers next year, they could well be just testing their parts. That rear wing has remained for how long now?