Mercedes GP W02

[3one]

Looks like that's the limit on what they can do with mechanical tuning. With the problems of tire management in the long haul shows the car lacking major overall downforce. It's about time for them to start upgrading their aero package. Now with Bob bell present in the team let's see what they can do on the next race.

[bjpower]

from the f1.com website

For the next round in Spain there will be a lot of changes on the Mercedes, with a new cooling system and exhausts. In Istanbul, however, they have again been taking advantage of this front wing, as used in China, with a slot in the main plane (highlighted in yellow). Together with a different aero and mechanical set-up, this has significantly improved the handling of the car.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

There have been no aero updates added to the car since Oz. The guys will be assessing the situation as all updates where pit on hold to fix problems they had first. I think the mercedes will be adding more as the european season gets under way. Biggest problem is sorting out the rear end grip.

[mep]

Might they have a problem with a fuel loaded car?
They where really slow at the beginning of the race.

[Byron R]

One thing I noticed in the race, the car seemed to be bottoming out in turn 8 much more than the rest.
In addition the cars front end looked very unsettled braking over the bumps. Stiff front, soft rear. In an attempt to gain rear grip?
More problems with rear grip.
Pit radio to Nico to warn him of last option set were blistered.
They improved qualy pace , but suffered with race pace.
No calls of temp issues this time, but it was 60 degrees F.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

No doubt the car is blitzing it's rear tyres. I may be wrong but I think Nico's strategy was changed to soft hard hard soft soft after the initial phase. He was the only guy in the top 5 to run the hards twice.
I may be wrong but I remember thinking that when Brundle and Coulthard where asking question of the mercs pace. I saw the car on the silver ringed tyre twice.

So it explains why they lost time and explains the team tried to cover rea wear issues by going hard option twice. But the hards didn't last any longer than the softs, making me scratch my head.

[Ferraripilot]

Could this new exhaust warrant MB running the MK III wing finally?? Give them a good half a second and they will truly be competitive.

[Ferraripilot]

No doubt the car is blitzing it's rear tyres. I may be wrong but I think Nico's strategy was changed to soft hard hard soft soft after the initial phase. He was the only guy in the top 5 to run the hards twice.
I may be wrong but I remember thinking that when Brundle and Coulthard where asking question of the mercs pace. I saw the car on the silver ringed tyre twice.

So it explains why they lost time and explains the team tried to cover rea wear issues by going hard option twice. But the hards didn't last any longer than the softs, making me scratch my head.

The substantial rear tire degradation could have something to do with their type of exhaust system giving too much indirect heat to those rears I'm thinking.

[Byron R]

Yes Nico ran 2 sets of primes. Obviously the team thought they were working better than the options. Yet they may have only gotten 1 extra lap from them compared to the options. ???? If they are truly 1 sec faster per lap(options) then they gave up approximately 20 seconds.
In a pitlane interview with Jean Todt on speedtv Todt stated he's looking to reintroduce in season testing. For MGP's sake I don't think it could come soon enough.
So far they seem to have only fixed their cooling issue, nothing more.

[yener]

We can argue many more hours, but the fact is that MGP Wo2 is way too slow.
They need at least 0,8s to give the Redbull's a hard time. And they just can't.

I always thought that Ross Brawn was genius. But he isn't genius enough to make a copy of the flexi wing that RedBull uses.
They would win at least 0,2 seconds only on the front wing.

RedBull is so many lightyears ahead of MGP right now, that Vettel could win a race with 2 fingers in his nose and his legs crossed.

[bot6]

Actually the cooling issue is not sorted yet, that will come next race.

[siskue2005]

We can argue many more hours, but the fact is that MGP Wo2 is way too slow.
They need at least 0,8s to give the Redbull's a hard time. And they just can't.

I always thought that Ross Brawn was genius. But he isn't genius enough to make a copy of the flexi wing that RedBull uses.
They would win at least 0,2 seconds only on the front wing.

RedBull is so many lightyears ahead of MGP right now, that Vettel could win a race with 2 fingers in his nose and his legs crossed.

They already have it

[mirkovladic]

I don't like this years formula 1 to much. Only for one reason, the tyres. I like, DRS and KERS, they make everything very exciting but with the tyres my problem is that the tyres are crap literally. I am not interested in which driver is the most gentle with the tyres. And it can't be that if to drivers fight after the duel their lap time fall 1-2s. The problems is if you design tyres that last only 6-10 laps, that means that only a small driver error where he pushes litlle to much (slide, wheel lock,...) ruins the tyre, and he reduces the 10 laps to four laps or something. Has anyone noticed that nowdays hardly anyone falls out because of driver error, no more wheel locks, driving on the limit. Also if a car has a tiny miss balance that will directly influence the tyres and the driver will loose time.

I think that in F1 it should all be about racing who can put the maximum from the car. And if all enginners are trying to make the best possible material they can it can't be that the Pireeli guys are investing millions in to a Tyre that lasts as least as possible, that makes no sense.Miles per gallon contest and who can watch their tyres better contests should be left to the general public.

If people would like more stops, what the heck make 2-3 stops mandatory, a easy solution. You can be sure that the stops will still not happen at the same time, their will still be some strategy. And saying that would be artificial, it all artificial nowadays.

In todays formula even Senna would suck, because he would blow his tyre in 1/2 a lap. And I don't blame Schumacher for not dominating anymore beacuse it's a totaly differnet contest this days. In his 20+ carrier he rarrly practised to drive gently or take care of the tyres, it was always to drive full throttle as fast as you can. But nowadays he can't go full trothlle even on one LAP in Q3. So one can't blame him really. I wished people would invest this millions in F1 also for anlysing how racing should really be and not making this fundamental decisions ad-hoc.

[aral]

I always thought that Ross Brawn was genius. But he isn't genius enough to make a copy of the flexi wing that RedBull uses.
They would win at least 0,2 seconds only on the front wing.

.

Brawn is not a designer!

[marcush.]

No ways Brawn does any design work todays even if I believe he did in his career.
I pretty much think that he is the one who put them back to the basics after the frustrating start into the season...I´m sure he is that kind of guy.As I understand he was at least at Benetton ana possibly as well at Ferrari the guy sorting out the detailing of the cars whereas Byrne was the crazy adventourer who worked out the aero concept .. Brawn had to make somethingh workable from this.

Again Mercedes does struggle with understanding the tyres methinks...Or they put the blame on the tyres not realising where their real problem is .Turning round in circles...Fact is they don´t know how to translate their one lap speed and when they have speed they don´t know why ...(see last race).Maybe the coin will drop in the next races.Michael Schumacher surely has learned a lesson this weekend.