Mercedes GP - Inauguration and 1st season

[Richard]

Brawn started 2009 with a clear lead, but the second half was about avoiding that lead being whittled away. Their advantage that season had been eroded with the advance of RB, McL and Fer.

Those three maintained that development momentum into 2010, while Brawn/Merc maintained their slower development momentum.

We can see that the Brawn magic in 2009 was purely down to the DDD, they had no other magic tricks once that was copied. Meanwhile RB, McL, Fer caught up on the DDD in mid 2009 and then leap frogged with further tricks in 2010.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Ok to put very simply, to save further unnecessary posts.

Had Red Bull, Mclaren or Ferrari gone through 2009 under the same circumstances as Brawn had managed ie less budget, less manpower and fighting a championship, do you seriously think they would have created the same car they had this year?


Unless of course less is more then I dont see how they can. unless they employ 200 plus monkeys to stare at each other all day!
And yes they started preliminary development of the W01 in May, but then come August diverted it back to the BGP until Button had the WDC in the bag.
Less lead time, and i also meant that in correlation to the BGP001.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Rosberg and Schumi interviews today

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88742

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88746

[xpensive]

Thank's JET, I took the liberty to pass MS' statements thru my newly developed bs-filter/translator, this is what came out;

"I haven't looked good all the time either," Schumacher admitted. "I can live with criticism very well, you just have to differentiate it and it can bring you forward as well."

"I don't care, money's already in the bank, for the same reason I can live with those a****les who don't see my divinity"

"What is much more important is that I deeply enjoy building what we are building here at this team and that is always the best base for success because you do not need to question the motivation. And please don't get me wrong here; you don't question the seriousness either. I can't wait already to get the new season started."

"As if what me and Cora wanted at this day and age was to turn back the clock 15 years, yeah right"

"The year has been a big challenge, and in this respect my expectations have been fulfilled," said Schumacher. "In terms of results, we clearly did not meet our expectations.

"But then, you have to fight for the things you want to achieve, which has always been my credo. Mercedes, the whole team, me - we are working together to build something great. Not being an easy process makes the challenge more exciting.

"None of us is the type of guy to just give up when faced with setbacks. It is the opposite, this makes us even more determined. I think I have proved over many years that I love challenges and that I am able to handle them. I have not regretted my decision to come back at all."

"The car was an utter shitbox from day one, nothing like what Ross had delivered before and a far cry from what Norbert had portrayed, I had serious plans to get out by mid-season after being humiliated by that barbie-brat, but what the hell"

"I look forward to some quiet days with my family over Christmas but I also notice that I am going all tingly already thinking about next year," he said.

"We ended the season with a positive feeling and things were starting to come together with a tendency that was clearly positive. And from a physical point of view, the year wasn't very demanding for me.

"So, knowing our developments for the new year makes me confident that we can fight for some race victories from our own power. This is a prospect which makes me look forward to competing again."

"Me and Cora's gonna have one helluva x-mas ball with Norbert's money, even inviting my bro if he's up to it, everything considered it was a give away wasn't it? It didn't take much physical effort either, not like having to go around Fiorano 24/7 as I used to. After this I don't really know, if Daimler wanna keep sending me those cheques, I guess I will cash them"

[mep]

Thank's JET, I took the liberty to pass MS' statements thru my newly developed bs-filter/translator, this is what came out;

ohhh xpensive, don't worry your BS filter works very well because all that came out of it is reall BS.


Guys stop bashing this man.
He started to drive in F1 1991.
After 20 years he is still there and going into his 17th season 2011.
He was always fighting on top and got 7 Championships, 3times second and 3times third. He won 91 GP's most other drivers don't even participate in that much GP's.
He was that successful that people where afraid his dominance will destroy the sport. I don't know how much money he got but for sure it is enough for himself and his entire child’s.
When he comes back to F1 than it is for sure not because he needs money.
With his affords there are much easier ways to get it.
Every tinny move of him causes a massive media echo.
When this man comes back to F1 then simply because he is a pure racer. All his life he did nothing else than racing on world’s highest level and simply can't stop with it. This man is real otherwise you don't do that for so long time and with so much success. He doesn't need to win another championship the pure fact that in the year 2010 he is still there and fighting is amazing.

You don't need to have sympathy for him but you must have highest respect.
What he did is epic.

[marcush.]

I go with mep there.
Michael is a pure racer and simply needs to drive and even more needs to race.
He never ever seemed to shy away from fighting for position in the races and inevitably produced 1st class race starts/first laps.
Not a sign of a semiretired guy just cashing in.

Lets see what he has to show in 2011 and talk about hios motivation again.To me it always looked like Schumacher was only interested in the driving and took the necessary burdon of media presence and being a public person .He did neve do that for the money ..and it was Weber who negotiated those deals and made him as rich as he is.Just look at the people he chose to have as manager and personal sponsors...this is a very basic guy who happens to be a gifted race driver.
As a business man he cannot compare with Gerhard for example.

[nipo]

I think X is just trying to make fun

I think it sounds from both Nico and Schumi that Brawn is still pretty much rebuilding the team. The progress is there but I suppose you need a good amount of work before you clean everything up from the changes of ownership, the down-sizing and the associated personnel changes, not to mention that he must be keen to continue on his own agenda which must have already been there when the team was still called Honda. Funny thing is Nico seems to suggest the team boss is still "learning" things over the past year. It's nothing major but I do feel it suggests that Nico has an opinion on the man.

I think 2010 was a reasonable season for them, as I would tend to call 2009 (BrawnGP) a one-off. Regarding Schumi I think my worst fear has in fact become reality - he underperformed in many ways and had a lacklustre season trailing his younger teammate. Brawn himself admitted in an interview that if his name wasn't "Schumacher" he probably wouldn't have kept his seat in the coming year. However, Brawn insists this is Michael Schumacher and we can always expect something more from him. I would rather take a more conservative stance at that, but hopefully Brawn is correct.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

The Xpensive BS filter! =D>

On topic, Im going to predict 1 race victory for Mercedes GP and more podiums than this year. Progress
As for Schumacher, well as the car looked better towards the end he started to put some manners on Rosberg. Surely no coincidence?
I do see there being a bit less harmony from the drivers within the team, Just dont know how Rosberg will react by his nose being bloodied by a 42 year old.
Schumacher took it on his (not inconsderable)chin this year...much to his credit.

[xpensive]

Whatever bs aside, I can see MGP being at the crossroads somehow, being the oddball on the grid as each and every other manufacturer took MrM's advise to pull out, leaving room for the new F1 stalwarts such as HRT and Virgin.

Who is Daimler really competing with here, what is the objective of their engagement, beating one or two dream-car builders
and a soft-drink producer? I can visualize said objective if it was to prove themselves as superior to BMW and Toyota, but this?

Anyway, and this is for the record, I have always beheld Mercedes-Benz as top notch production car-wise, but where this is supposed to be going, I simply cannot fathom. Thinking with your heart has rarely proven itself useful.

[Richard]

Merc are in battle with Fer and McL for prestige to boost their supercar status.

If you were to buy a supercar with hyrbid technology, you'd probably feel smug about the Merc unit derived from successful F1 technology, compared to the Ferrari unit that caught fire and was binned at many of the races in 09. Ferrari seem to have a thing for fires in both F1 and on the road recently

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

I see this as a marketing strategy that will eventually repostion Mercedes as a more youthful marque. F1 gives global exposure to brands, hence the amount of sponsorship.
New markets are are growing in China and India and Indonesia/Malaysia, This gives Mercedes a very high profile in those markets, especially with Schumacher on board.

Im sure beating BMW would've given much satisafaction in Stuttgart, but I cant help feel that both the star and the propellor want to beat the rings first before turning the guns on each other.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Merc unit derived from successful F1 technology

Does the SLS have Mercedes/Zytek derived KERS?

[xpensive]

...Im sure beating BMW would've given much satisafaction in Stuttgart, but I cant help feel that both the star and the propellor want to beat the rings first before turning the guns on each other.
...

But as things have turned out, the star cannot even beat the prism, when there's no prism to beat anymore, is there now?

There's a red thing and an orange thing, as well as a mysterious wing-thing to beat, but what will you prove by doing that?

Again, who will Daimler beat, even if we get as far as that JET?

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Its not the beating, its that taking part that counts X

[Richard]

Merc unit derived from successful F1 technology

Does the SLS have Mercedes/Zytek derived KERS?

All is fair game in PR land. When there is an SLS hybrid the PR machine will undoubtedly link it to F1 KERS.