Mercedes GP W02

[dren]

I would put money on the Red Bull as the best car at the moment. Ferrari is probably up there. I fully expect Mercedes to be up towards the top at the start of the season. Last year the team had some worries, it seems like they are all fairly happy with the new car and its handling and set-up predictions. I expect the go fast stuff to show up more in the final test.

[BorisTheBlade]

@JET
Well, if you say so. IMHO it was until the second or third test that they admitted to have a bit of a problem to 'adjust' the car correctly. It was said to be no big deal. And i do remember especially you stating how tight their rear was and what an Über-Diffuser and Front wing they might introduce. But such is my memory

[siskue2005]

once again in AMUS

they are saying that Schumacher doesn't like the front tires

either its BS by German media or PZero have weak fronts or W02 is lacking again.

oh common they didnt say that about the front tyres!!

schumacher was talking about the tyre degradation
its a mis quote, as now people will interpret it as last year's tyre problem...when in reality he was just saying the tyre degradation is bad and hope it will be changed....exactly like all the other dirvers were saying!

thank you very much as I about to post this. Schumacher is saying the exact same thing many many others driver are stating, which is that the Pirelli's have a degradation issue. Hammy put it best, "the fronts fall off quick"

here is the real quote from autosports
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89274
Schumacher admitted that he experienced some compounds of the Pirelli tyres wearing quickly, but says the team is still happy with the work it did today.

"There is an obvious scenario on different compounds that we have available," he said. "Some are more consistent than others and I have had some exciting moments on track, where I was on certain tyres that wouldn't last very long and it was like driving on ice. But nevertheless, we did our work that we were concentrated for and we are quite happy about that."

i dont know how this turend out to be "Schumacher having problems with the front tyres again!!"

[siskue2005]

@JET
Well, if you say so. IMHO it was until the second or third test that they admitted to have a bit of a problem to 'adjust' the car correctly. It was said to be no big deal. And i do remember especially you stating how tight their rear was and what an Über-Diffuser and Front wing they might introduce. But such is my memory

no wrong
Brawn said right away after the 2nd day of the first test day back in 2010, that they have a wrong weight distribution

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

@JET
Well, if you say so. IMHO it was until the second or third test that they admitted to have a bit of a problem to 'adjust' the car correctly. It was said to be no big deal. And i do remember especially you stating how tight their rear was and what an Über-Diffuser and Front wing they might introduce. But such is my memory

You remember well Boris, Yes I did expect Mercedes to add front wings and diffusers... but my understanding of F1 has grown since last year.
Slapping on an uber diffuser and miracle front wing wont help if you screwed up your weight distribution with 180 kilo fuel tanks.

Mercedes did eventually fit their diffuser and the car was competitive in the final 3 races was it not? But the results of that came from understanding how to work round their distribution issue. In fact, 747heavy even commented on the W01 issue being related to chassis stiffness. Not an easy problem to circumvent in homologation environment I'm sure you will agree.

There appears to be no intrinsic flaws with the W02 at present. It is amusing to see a 2010 Force India bang in a 1m13.2 yet a brand spanking new Mercedes cant even manage 1m14.3.
There are scientific reasons for that, none of them to do with the VJM03 being better than the W02, I hope that puts things into perspective

[forty-two]

But surely the weight distribution issue would be lesser than before now we have standardised WD?

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

But surely the weight distribution issue would be lesser than before now we have standardised WD?

Yes, most teams would have to guess which weight distribution would have been optimal for the new Pirelli's.
It would have been pot luck as not even Pirelli would have known that before the december tests. So how would a team go about designing a car with that situation as it was? Thats why mandatory weight distribution was implemented.

The W02 is still being developed, not because its not ready, but because the situation with tyres requires them to be sure what they add works.
The situation is more or less the same up and down the pitlane with teams all waiting to add bits and pieces to their cars.

But the situation isnt exactly the same.

Naturally some will have more than others, and thats just a guessing game. But compare the R31 to the W02, and you have to admit Renault appear to have somthing looking like a race ready car. Mercedes dont even have a W02 spec rear wing yet

[Shafto]

1st post - be gentle.

I must say that to this point, I find Mercedes effort disappointing. With the early start on the car, I expected a McLaren/Renault style effort. A car with rather bold attempts at innovation- not what appears to be mostly immitation. Not that either car will prove faster than W02 in final form. But, at this point, it certainly seems we brought a knife to a gun fight.

Mclaren's car looks to represent an aggresive design approach, and the teams posture is one of "Despite what you CAN see- there's much more you can't see". Contrast that to how Merc's handling this launch. Conservative, uninspiring, certainly not setting the bar very high given that they gave up very early in '10 to focus on this??

Maybe they're playing it close to the vest but everything from the car to the rederick at this point suggests finishing 4th in the constructors championship may be optomistic considering what the competition have been able to show with seemingly less development time.

These people that base a cars performance on the way it looks I find rather funny. Unless you know aerodynamically how it will perform just from looking at it then what is the point? Ferrari's 2010 car looked clean and simple - nothing extravagant, but it was a generally fast car. Essentially all this talk on these cars are assumptions until we really see them widen there strides and get rippa dippin. Remember too how Sauber topped the pre season tests last year?

Now I am not saying that the W02 will be a fast car but just saying that we will just have to wait until first quali to really get an idea. CANT WAIT!!

[jav]

These people that base a cars performance on the way it looks I find rather funny. Unless you know aerodynamically how it will perform just from looking at it then what is the point? Ferrari's 2010 car looked clean and simple - nothing extravagant, but it was a generally fast car. Essentially all this talk on these cars are assumptions until we really see them widen there strides and get rippa dippin. Remember too how Sauber topped the pre season tests last year?

Now I am not saying that the W02 will be a fast car but just saying that we will just have to wait until first quali to really get an idea. CANT WAIT!!

I hope the "these people" comment wasn't directed at me as I made no correlation between looks and performance. In fact I stated that these innovative looking cars might be slower than the final form of the W02.

The point I was making was that Mercedes gave up on last season earlier than most to concentrate on the 2011 car. I was "expecting" something more innovative than what the W02 appears to be at the moment. I see more imitation than innovation. I find it disappointing that teams that started later, appear to have implemented more new ideas despite having less time or resources.

The W02 looks great- love the livery- but it does not appear to break much new ground. It might end up being very fast but at the moment, the car isn't showing great pace, reliability or innovation. And - the teams tone, in my view, doesn't espouse great hopes beyond being a large improvement over the W01, which while nice, might not be enough for 4th place if other lower placing constructors make more significant gains from these new ideas.

After seeing Renault's exhaust and readings Brawn's "we're playing catch-up again"... I was expecting more.

[Ferraripilot]

The Red Bull didn't show good pace this time last year either. Just saying.

[Caerdroia]

The Red Bull didn't show good pace this time last year either. Just saying.

Red bull didn't even attend the first test last year...

[jav]

The Red Bull didn't show good pace this time last year either. Just saying.

Red bull didn't even attend the first test last year...

...and by the end of the '09 season, RedBull had developed their cars performance beyond that of the Championship car. If Merc. showed that type of progression last year, I'd be less worried.

I fear that If W02 hasn't been developed enough to challenge at the front straight away, I would have to question how they expect to "out develop" other teams during the season. I mean if they couldn't do it when they had a time advantage, why would it make sense that they will do it when they don't have that advantage?

I'm certainly hoping they aren't showing their hand and that the car is better than it seems now. But- i fear that's doubly true of RedBull, Ferrari and probably McLaren. Certainly, Renault has shown some pace and Kubica seems less content than we do so maybe there's more sandbagging going on than I think?

I hope i'm wrong but I fear that I'm not.

[Ferraripilot]

Brawn has the car out for reliability checks, tires, and kers testing at the moment. The aero is nowhere near complete. As for last year, W01 was pretty much done with development halfway through the season. We'll see if they have the resolve to get it done. I agree that they need to be very competitive right away. Brawn is a tricky fellow.

[Ferraripilot]

The Red Bull didn't show good pace this time last year either. Just saying.

Red bull didn't even attend the first test last year...

And when they did they sure didn't show their hand at Barcelona.

[myurr]

And when they did they sure didn't show their hand at Barcelona.

Except many of the industry insiders were saying that Red Bull were showing great pace in the long runs, and predicted that they'd be the car to beat. Just because they didn't go for a headline time it doesn't mean that the pace of the car, or not, is not apparent.