This forum contains threads to discuss teams themselves. Anything not technical about the cars, including restructuring, performances etc belongs here.
Given the pile of reports, another cleanup of this thread appeared necessary. In the last 5 pages, anything inappropriate, completely off-topic, personal comments and unfounded conspiracy theories have been deleted.
Is it possible to please stick to the topic and perhaps also facts?
xpensive wrote:A serious Euro-crisis, which Germany is xpected to pay for, could be the perfect xcuse for Daimler to get out early.
Mercedes and Porsche are the most profitable auto manufacturers on earth. Here in the states, they cannot keep cars on their respective car lots for longer than a few days after they arrive. Because this is a constant, their Euro-specific political tax needs are inconsequential for their operating model.
There's so much Merc bashing going on here, I can't understand it.
Knowing Merc and their history in motorsport, success will come to them and some people are going to be eating their words.
Yes there have been initial problems but I think what's important is that Merc have identified them and put a plan in place to rectify them.
They really haven't done badly in the last 2 years considering their size compared to the big 3 teams.
Yes they bought a championship winning team but that counts for nothing as it was severely downsized and thus almost a different team.
The speed of change in F1 means that just because you have the fastest car this year doesn't guarantee you'll have the fastest next year.
As I see it they are in quite an advantageous situation.
If they had been winning straight off the bat, people would have attributed the success to Honda and as soon as Merc had a bad year would then be blaming Merc.
They now have the chance to achieve success completely on their own merit, rebuilding the team in the process.They haven't exactly embarrassed themselves either, fourth place in your first 2 years IS in fact quite an accomplishment, especially considering they were downsized so considerably.
Merc have done the right thing and shown their long term commitment with it's new technical team and aggressive employment of staff to bring them in line with the top 3.If they were able to achieve 4th place before, surely things can only now get better and they have the chance to succeed where their main rivals, BMW, failed - which will be a major coup.
Rome wasn't built in a day and Merc knows this.
Sorry for the long rant, what I really wanted to do, was to find out about the front wing f-duct everyone is talking about.
Where did this info come from, are Merc going to be testing it out anytime soon and isn't it a mistake to show your hand so early - surely now the other teams will be able to get it on their cars before the start of the 2012 season?
Wouldn't they have been better off to debut it in 2012 and get a head start on the other teams?
mx_tifosi wrote:Very insightful there raymondu999!
Anyways, without Mercedes, where would Rosberg go? Lotus? Virgin?
Ferrari or Red Bull have been mooted as possible destinations. Although the more time goes on, the very impressive Sergio Perez looks a good bet for the seat at Ferrari when Massa goes in the next couple of years.
mx_tifosi wrote:Very insightful there raymondu999!
Anyways, without Mercedes, where would Rosberg go? Lotus? Virgin?
Fair point. Merc would be kind of the best "available" option. But if the deal is truly going to be long term - ending AFTER Red Bull/Ferrari have seats empty - then that would signify he had confidence in the team.
JohnsonsEvilTwin wrote:Well it would be long term wouldn't it Ray?
That's kind of my point - how long is said deal? Or is it only long enough for a good vacancy to open up? Kind of like, "This is the best available one right now. I'll sit tight until the next big seat opens up."
Not saying that's what he's doing; but my point is if that's what he's doing - that's not showing confidence in MGP. But if he is signing maybe until 2015 or some such; then yes I'd agree he shows confidence in the team
