Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2013

[Bredd]

Looks like push rod front which isn't what the earlier rumours said.

[diego1960]

munudeges i don't disagree with what you wrote, but I still think that although the Brackley team and MHPE both belong to Daimler, they are two separate entities, thus the engine department employees as well as the R&D costs, factory maintenance costs etc. don't "count" in the Mercedes' total. I might be mistaken though.

As for Bob Bell it remains to be seen, but I agree that it is strange he is no longer mentioned and we keep hearing about Costa and Willis and now Elliot.

Bredd, I predict a huge disappointment come Monday and the official presentation, unless they are fooling us with the photo. Chances are slim though, the car resembles W03 way too much for me to be optimistic. Hamilton got a taste of what Mercedes was yesterday when they couldn't even keep the server up and running. I pray that I am wrong on this one though, and the car is competitive from day one.

[ringo]

I think there is an overreaction to that image.
I am putting full faith in the technical directors. Proper judgement should not have them produce the same car for 2013.
This image should be taken with a grain of salt.
They must know by now the capabilities of photoshop, and changing brightness and hue is not top secret space age stuff.
They knew the fans were going to do the same thing we do every year, and that's enhance the picture.
That picture is just to send you all on a wild goose chase and it's working.
I say just relax and wait till Monday.

[diego1960]

I hope you are right, and they truly are going to show something visibly different than a W03 with a vanity panel and a rounder air inlet above the driver.

I wouldn't say no to front pull-rods too although I can understand if they don't choose that solution as it is only going to be relevant for a year.

If changes are not made however, this is going to be a long long year...

[Cocles]

Interesting financial statistics of the team.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news ... 1-car.html

Not surprised. It's been most bemusing to see the usual suspects around here try and claim that they're spending something like €150 million and that somehow teams like Red Bull are spending more than twice that.

You're kidding right? The article said they spent 125.7 million quid.

[Cocles]

I think we all have to come to the conclusion that Bob Bell has now been sidelined, probably for telling RB and Merc some home truths.

Oh, I'm sorry; I didn't realize it was story time.

[GrizzleBoy]

They've updated their site.

We can now see the rear wing lit up.

I can't tell much from it though.

The shadowy bits may be of the W03, with the lit up parts showing parts of the W04?

Can anyone do one of those blown up/increased brightness pics for comparison?

[munudeges]

It's always story time with this team......

The engine and team are not separate entities. You've got people who have positions within the team employed by MHPE. Kidding? They're probably the biggest spenders in the sport and employ close to a thousand people. It's Toyota all over again. Did someone say this was more cost effective than producing engines for McLaren?

The whole Paddy Lowe debacle just shows what a mess things are.

[Cocles]

It's always story time with this team......

The engine and team are not separate entities. You've got people who have positions within the team employed by MHPE. Kidding? They're probably the biggest spenders in the sport and employ close to a thousand people. It's Toyota all over again. Did someone say this was more cost effective than producing engines for McLaren?

The whole Paddy Lowe debacle just shows what a mess things are.

You're a troll, dude. Specifically, because you're using different levels of description and hoping no one will notice. You really think that the 150 million budget discussed in these threads included the engine budget? No, of course not, and you know that. But you'll pretend otherwise just to get a fight started.

[diego1960]

munudeges I'm sure that there is some legal loophole that is being exploited if there are indeed employees within the Brackley team that also receive a payment from MHPE. Otherwise someone from FIA would have noticed and Mercedes would be in trouble trying to explain the unexplainable.

If I remember correctly, the other idea that fell to the table prior to 2010 wasn't for Mercedes to merely stay as a supplier, but to buy out McLaren. If that actually happened, McLaren would disappear as an entity and would be renamed Mercedes, so that's a small difference with Toyota. Also, Toyota if I remember correctly had many things done in Japan and several in Cologne, whereas Mercedes now has the whole car assembled in Brackley. Wasn't that the case?

[flmkane]

I personally believe the whole point of that picture was to tell us that the W04 does not have stepped nose. That was just a photo-shopped W03.

[Maelstrom]

I do recall Brawn saying that the w04 was a completely new car. So it doesn't make sense that this is the pic of the w04.

I also think that if all fans had to do, was make the pic brighter on photoshop to reveal the w04 earlier than time, then we have bigger problems than a potentially crappy car. It means Mereceds has completely lost the plot.

I think the car has yet to be revealed. Have patience. It's not gonna be long now.

[FoxHound]

Mercedes have revealed the w02 and w03 in precisely the same fashion. It's just how they unveil their car in a staged process.
The car looks similar to the W03, but if you look at the air box, the nose and the side pods are completely different. We can't make much out of the rear so just wait and see.

[KeiKo403]

tbh I'm not expecting a winning car this year. I'm looking forward to seeing the Hamilton v Rosberg battle more than anything.

[Cocles]

I do recall Brawn saying that the w04 was a completely new car.

I believe it was Lauda who said that. Hamilton has said it's an evolution, so who knows?