Mercedes AMG F1 W03

[dren]

They must come up with ways on how to balance their situation: introduce updates while going for points and avoid being overtaken by Sauber. But with their current form (eg. Crashing, car failure, lack of pace), Sauber should be able to overtake them. Especially now that both Sauber drivers are in good form. It will be best for Mercedes to just hang on with what they have now, and pray they would achieve another BRAWN '09 campaign next season.

Since the BAR years, this team has historically had tire "understanding" issues. It hit them once again this year with the W03. The team can design a great, quick car over one lap, but cannot get to grips with tires early. Sauber was on top of the tires very early. They were able to look at car upgrades from then on.

Maybe the Mercedes cars just don't produce enough downforce overall and overwork the tires compared to the rest? This sort of speeks to their straight line speed pholosophy last year. Or maybe the suspension system is overly complex and causes more harm than good to extremely sensitive tires? Or maybe they don't have a very good tire modeling program? Maybe it is all of the above? I am expecting the input from ex Renault/Lotus and ex Ferrari gurus to help them quite a bit in this area with the W04.

[Glyn]

In all fairness to the Mercedes team, I think they're doing an "in-season testing" of parts, then carry them over with next year's car. They're not going to beat even the Lotus in standings anyway, so might as well test new parts for the next campaign. Just my thoughts

good point. the likelyhood for them to beat lotus is indeed no so high. but they could be intercepted by sauber. how much money difference would that mean?

They must come up with ways on how to balance their situation: introduce updates while going for points and avoid being overtaken by Sauber. But with their current form (eg. Crashing, car failure, lack of pace), Sauber should be able to overtake them. Especially now that both Sauber drivers are in good form. It will be best for Mercedes to just hang on with what they have now, and pray they would achieve another BRAWN '09 campaign next season.

I think people are under-estimating how good Sauber is.

Mercedes are nowhere near Sauber now.

If they had two consistently brilliant drivers who could maximise the qualifying. They could be contesting for the podium far more often.

[Vasconia]

I am not so sure about that. Perez has done a great job, in my opinion Sauber is so goot in race because they have some problems to obtain the pefect performance in a single lap, they sacrifice some qualy pace in order to have a really competitive car in race.

Anyway this car is a really good base for them to desing the model for the next season. Mercedes cannot say the same.

[dren]

The Sauber is a really good car. The team has been able to gamble on strategy often and it has paid off because of the tire characteristic. I don't know how much Mercedes has to dial back on the W03 to get its tires to last for a stint. I'm going to say the W03 is a quicker car than the Sauber, but not a better race car. I also expect the W03 to look much better in the following races. Suzuka didn't suit the W03.

[marcush.]

The Sauber is a really good car. The team has been able to gamble on strategy often and it has paid off because of the tire characteristic. I don't know how much Mercedes has to dial back on the W03 to get its tires to last for a stint. I'm going to say the W03 is a quicker car than the Sauber, but not a better race car. I also expect the W03 to look much better in the following races. Suzuka didn't suit the W03.

Did you forget -Everyone has the same chance to gamble.It took MGP the whole season to realise it is indeed possible to sacrifice qualy position for race results.

I think it´s unfair to say Sauber had an advantage for their lack of qualy speed ....in fact i think it just proves my point of:Qualy has lost its importance big time.
Prople have challenged for wins coming from a sorts of starting positions this year .

[dren]

I don't think so. Early on the tires made races somewhat of a lottery, but qualifying was still huge. Lotus would have won races by now if Kimi could have been among the top 3 at the start. After turn 1, it is pretty much a done deal.

[JMN]

Qualy has lost its importance big time.
Prople have challenged for wins coming from a sorts of starting positions this year .

Yet the lead-car always seem to be cruising. I get what you are saying, a lot of cars are coming through the field this year to challenge and take podium positions. They rarely seem to be able to make a serious threat to the lead-car though. Raikkonen on Vettel and Alonso on Maldonado are the only valid ones I can think of. In the majority of the remaining races, the pole-sitter (or in the case of retirements, the car that inherited the lead in extension of crashes) enters cruise-mode and settles down to have a buffer in tire-life should someone manage to come through the field and catch up. Exceptions include Canada and Silverstone due to strategy differences, but these were limited battles among the top 3 cars and not cars coming through the field.

[Glyn]

Qualy has lost its importance big time.
Prople have challenged for wins coming from a sorts of starting positions this year .

Yet the lead-car always seem to be cruising. I get what you are saying, a lot of cars are coming through the field this year to challenge and take podium positions. They rarely seem to be able to make a serious threat to the lead-car though. Raikkonen on Vettel and Alonso on Maldonado are the only valid ones I can think of. In the majority of the remaining races, the pole-sitter (or in the case of retirements, the car that inherited the lead in extension of crashes) enters cruise-mode and settles down to have a buffer in tire-life should someone manage to come through the field and catch up. Exceptions include Canada and Silverstone due to strategy differences, but these were limited battles among the top 3 cars and not cars coming through the field.

I wonder what the grid / championship would look like if Bridgestone tyes were used, and every lap was peddle to the metal.

[user001]

Qualy has lost its importance big time.
Prople have challenged for wins coming from a sorts of starting positions this year .

Yet the lead-car always seem to be cruising. I get what you are saying, a lot of cars are coming through the field this year to challenge and take podium positions. They rarely seem to be able to make a serious threat to the lead-car though. Raikkonen on Vettel and Alonso on Maldonado are the only valid ones I can think of. In the majority of the remaining races, the pole-sitter (or in the case of retirements, the car that inherited the lead in extension of crashes) enters cruise-mode and settles down to have a buffer in tire-life should someone manage to come through the field and catch up. Exceptions include Canada and Silverstone due to strategy differences, but these were limited battles among the top 3 cars and not cars coming through the field.

I wonder what the grid / championship would look like if Bridgestone tyes were used, and every lap was peddle to the metal.

yes, also my sentiment. this would more be racing imho. and that actually something michael complained about months ago.

sad but true.

[marcush.]

I don't think so. Early on the tires made races somewhat of a lottery, but qualifying was still huge. Lotus would have won races by now if Kimi could have been among the top 3 at the start. After turn 1, it is pretty much a done deal.

I don´t think so.MGP followed this route at the start of the year but sacrificed race speed to gain good grid position only to fall back in the race.
Lotus concentrated on race performance .So if they had more in qualky they just fall apart in the race..pretty clear tradeoff.

[stefan_]

[elf341]

I think that rear pic is the McLaren.

I almost exploded when I thought of all the rear changes Merc might've made!

[Mams]

That's not the Mercedes but the rear of the Mclaren

[NonNewtonic]

[quote="stefan_"]

Are you sure this is the W03? because based on the position of the gills and the radiator exit it seems like the McLaren

[NonNewtonic]

Why is the beam wing sees to split right in the middle?