Mercedes GP 2011

[marcush.]

Head hunting is best practise in Industry.
To lure Prodruomo from Milton Keynes to Brackley will not even cost money in terms of persuading him to move ....or ( if he´s married and got children) will not involve any big headaches on the private side.
So the one and only question is:is there something waiting for him at Mercedes that cannot be found in RedBull?
I´d say yes.
If Norby and Ross think his contribution was a chance to turn things around (quicker) they will find a way to make an attractive proposal.
Newey ..how much is he receiving from Didi? I´d think not many drivers in the current field get more than him and surely not the Bull drivers.

[munudeges]

"In a technical restructuring, Pat Fry, who joined Ferrari from McLaren, will become director for the chassis side, with Corrado Lanzone responsible for production and Luca Marmorini in charge of engine and electronics, all three reporting directly to team principal Stefano Domenicali.

It gets dafter every time I read it. You've got two guys supposedly responsible for the car, but ultimately it's Pat Fry really, and then you've got a production guy (not sure what he does when he's at home) and an electronics/engine guy who can both bypass that whole chain and report directly to the Team Principal.

It really sounds like a recipe for political disaster.

[xpensive]

...
It really sounds like a recipe for political disaster.

Isn't this the way MGP was/is/to-be set up when you think about it, Zander, Bigois, Wilson, Cooley, Bell, and potentially Costa and Prodruomo, all individually reporting directly to Ross Brawn?

[Mr.S]

...
It really sounds like a recipe for political disaster.

Isn't this the way MGP was/is/to-be set up when you think about it, Zander, Bigois, Wilson, Cooley, Bell, and potentially Costa and Prodruomo, all individually reporting directly to Ross Brawn?

No this was never supposed to the way Merc are gonna operate. Get into your head. Ross Brawn is Team Principal now. Bob Bell is the Technical Director. They are supposed to report to Bob Bell.

[Hemsy]

I am not really looking forward to Costa joining the team. As good as he maybe, let's give Bell a chance first. If next year we don't show any progress then maybe there wouldn't be any harm in him joining the team. Remember too many cooks spoil the broth and could possibly create a volatile atmosphere within the team. If next year even if we move from being the fourth fastest to the third fastest team, I would consider that solid progress because that would have meant we beat either Mclaren or Ferrari or Red Bull which is no small feat.

[xpensive]

Just face it, MGP is a team in serious disorganization where Ross Brawn seems to be way out of his league as Team Principal,
when adding the Stuttgart-suits, Norbert Haug and small-Fry to the mix the picture becomes almost bizarre.

Brawn not denying Costa will join next year should make Bob Bell worried, unless he has already decided to leave.

How this team can be in fourth in the WCC is a small miracle in itself, shows that drivers can still make a difference?

[Morteza]

That's a miracle for sure, X. It is because of the drivers that they are 4th in the standings. BTW, What have heard from Bob Bell since his arrival at Mercedes GP? Now we hear about Costa coming to MGP. What exactly Bob Bell is doing now at MGP? Working on W03 perhaps?

[Mr.S]

I seriously get the random hatred for Merc,I donno how much this is coming from Lewis thickhead Hamilton fanboys but if belittling Merc would some ear someone a dollar we would had quite a few billionaires here.


It seems to me people are actually scared that Merc might challenge their fav. team & want them to hold on to No.4 spot.

What should Bell be worried I dont get either. The man has just been appointed Technical Director & has done nothing to dissapoint Merc as yet. Aldo Costa coming can only be a positive for Merc. He could replace John Owen as the Chief Designer or Craig Wilson as Head of Vehicle engg.

Just because Costa might come into Merc need not be that he is gonna be some co-Technical Director or a competitor to Bell's post. Costa worked as a team player for Ferrai for years & the Chief Designer is no mean post. Costa is not Newey that he would not want to work under BOB.

ADD to it Costa even if he joines MERC on 1 Jan ,2012 will have no role in W03. W03 is well in motion now & by January the car will be almost complete to have it ready for winter testing.

[marcush.]

The worrying thing is:
Brawn is communicating things .
I think Bell has not even spoke once as Technical director of the team yet .
MGP is recruiting people in all areas at this time of year.Some short term contracts .
Would you think hiring 100 staff could have a positive impact on the 2012 car? Not really .Sure the best guys will just drop in and show their worth.But reality is you need an awful lot of time to even start working ...design guidelines ,maybe a switch from Siemens to Catia etc etc it´s not like everyone can take a seat and start contributing ONLY.It will inevitably create an extra load for the guys already there .

[Mr.S]

I dont know. W03 will completely Bob Bell's car. The thing with Brawn having the limelight is that the situation is a little similar to ferrari when Rory did the real work.

Anyways Bob himself said he doesn't like too much of an attention & doesnt enjoy giving interviews so he is taking a more factory based approach.

None of these recruitements are going to have any major role in W03. This is for the future,2013 & beyond which is good. I have always felt the whole no TD argument is the not the only reason for the lack of performance of W02. Some top level guy,wether is is is Chief Designer or Head of Vehicle Engg. are not up to the standard.

[marcush.]

Bell joining MGP in April ,so he was just popping in when Mercedes decided on the basic concepts of the car and SURE he was attending all these meetings.
Would the new dog step in already in the first weeks and stop decisions on weird things if he was having doubts ?I think so .He was in a senior role at Renault and witnessed exactly these kind of crunch times when Reanult took bold decisions and went of in wrong direction.
On the other hand I think he has his hands full to asess all the people working under him and decide if they need nothing ,better recources,a redress of their job describtion or a new employer some you can decide as you go along and In fact I see it as a sign of Bells work that only now when W03 is safely on its way he starts to recruit new workforce.

[Mr.S]

Well Merc or most of the other card start work on the next year's car from July-August onwards,last year Merc choose to go early from June onwards.

Bob joined in on April. The basic car was already on place with a mandatory weight distribution. I dont know if attended any meetings in February-March but even if he did I doubt he would have done anything major as December-January the car is finished & you have to get ready for pre-season testing.

Besides he would take a bit of time to get used to Merc & how it works. He cant just come in the 1st day & boss people working for years.

[marcush.]

I was talking about W03 obviously.And for sure you do not suddenloy start talking about next years ca in june or july...
The work starts already when designing the actual car and constraints put on you will not allow you to put some features on the car ..or the gestation of the car reveals certain points you would not do again as you did them with hindsight...It´s called lessons learned ..same as you participate at the races .The feedback from the meetings will certainly make people think about and collect input for the new machine.You try to single out the weak points and find solutions to improve the compromises or evene get rid of them for the next iteration,especially when in season development showed you were unable to modify the current product sufficiently...
So that timeline of june or july is simply not a hard pointand teams talk about it in a different sense:
June or july is the date when concepts have reached a status that affects the capacity of the manufacturing and engineering departments in a way you have to decide if you simulate or build parts later and use the slots to bring in more developments to rise the performance of the current car

[Mr.S]

Well Merc are 0.705 down on the best time on P3. I predicted W02 to be down around 0.7-0.8s considering the track favours Merc.

[xpensive]

Well Merc are 0.705 down on the best time on P3. I predicted W02 to be down around 0.7-0.8s considering the track favours Merc.

Good Lord...you do have a crystal ball, no wonder you know the xact status and conditions within MGP?