Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2013

[Schulteiss]

Sorry to pop in on this, but so far this has been, as mentioned a couple of posts back, taken out of proportion. Rosberg has only said "ok, we still have understeer" but in altogether a positive context as concerns the car. G. Anderson added to this the "snapping" of the rear, also added to this info was Hamilton's comment of the car having less DF than the Mc he drove last season. Note that he said that after driving 15 sporadic laps on Wednesday before his shunt. Anderson is whining about this car from day one, and the behavior he noted from the trackside could be down to many things else than what has been discussed here basically as fact. I don't think there is a definitive conclusion to be drawn with 2 days worth of running in Jerez.

[Mika1]

Barcelona will give more answers. But they need to find more downforce IMO.

[SchumiSutil]

Barcelona will give more answers. But they need to find more downforce IMO.

Everyone needs more downforce, this is nature of Formula 1. In this process Mercedes was quite far back last year, don't expect them to have the same ammount of downforce than the Red Bull, Mclaren, Ferrari and Lotus at the beginning of the season.
I think they're not better than 5th faster car at the moment, but remember how far to the top 4 they finished the previous year...
They have to be closer this year and I'm sure they will be. No major rule change, everyone will have pretty much the same exhausts system. I think it will be even closer, so Merc should have the chance to challenge in some races. What they need is a much much better developement rate throughout the season, and they need to be much stronger aerodynamically wise. The 60% windtunnel model should help a big deal. They are anyway short of excuses now.

[clipsy1H]

Barcelona will give more answers. But they need to find more downforce IMO.

Everyone needs more downforce, this is nature of Formula 1. In this process Mercedes was quite far back last year, don't expect them to have the same ammount of downforce than the Red Bull, Mclaren, Ferrari and Lotus at the beginning of the season.
I think they're not better than 5th faster car at the moment, but remember how far to the top 4 they finished the previous year...
They have to be closer this year and I'm sure they will be. No major rule change, everyone will have pretty much the same exhausts system. I think it will be even closer, so Merc should have the chance to challenge in some races. What they need is a much much better developement rate throughout the season, and they need to be much stronger aerodynamically wise. The 60% windtunnel model should help a big deal. They are anyway short of excuses now.

i'm not so sure... like you said "no major rule change" so Mercedes finished last season like 6-7 car on the grid (behind Sauber) i don't know how much they worked at this car and how good are this upgrades (last upgrade package was really bad).
The top car will be Red Bull maybe Mercedes will fight with Lotus or more

[beelsebob]

Sorry to pop in on this, but so far this has been, as mentioned a couple of posts back, taken out of proportion. Rosberg has only said "ok, we still have understeer" but in altogether a positive context as concerns the car. G. Anderson added to this the "snapping" of the rear, also added to this info was Hamilton's comment of the car having less DF than the Mc he drove last season. Note that he said that after driving 15 sporadic laps on Wednesday before his shunt. Anderson is whining about this car from day one, and the behavior he noted from the trackside could be down to many things else than what has been discussed here basically as fact. I don't think there is a definitive conclusion to be drawn with 2 days worth of running in Jerez.

To be fair – Gary Anderson was whining about the McLaren's low nose from day 1 last year, and he was damn well spot on

[Richard]

So has it always been 60% Merc ownership?

[FoxHound]

From inception Mercedes owned 60 percent of MGP.

Until AAbar wanted to sell, as investment companies tend to do. That was very recently.
Mercedes getting Wolff and Lauda in as investors means more to the running of the team than a silent partner in aabar.
It was inevitable this would happen.

Yes Lauda brings with him a truck load of tripe. But Wolff is a man who won't stand for interference and will be more influential as to what happens now at brackley.
You simply cannot predict what will happen.

My own guess, is that Brawn is living on borrowed time, and only a top 3 standing in the first 6 months will save him from the axe.

Mercedes and this team will be here in 2014, make no mistake.

[Schulteiss]

Sorry to pop in on this, but so far this has been, as mentioned a couple of posts back, taken out of proportion. Rosberg has only said "ok, we still have understeer" but in altogether a positive context as concerns the car. G. Anderson added to this the "snapping" of the rear, also added to this info was Hamilton's comment of the car having less DF than the Mc he drove last season. Note that he said that after driving 15 sporadic laps on Wednesday before his shunt. Anderson is whining about this car from day one, and the behavior he noted from the trackside could be down to many things else than what has been discussed here basically as fact. I don't think there is a definitive conclusion to be drawn with 2 days worth of running in Jerez.

To be fair – Gary Anderson was whining about the McLaren's low nose from day 1 last year, and he was damn well spot on

Exactly. He was right about one feature of a car that was among the fastest - if not the fastest - on the grid last season. He had nothing specific to say about the W04 though. Not saying he is not right. Just that there are no clues to what and where the weakness(es) are yet.

[Unc1e_M0nty]

Sorry to pop in on this, but so far this has been, as mentioned a couple of posts back, taken out of proportion. Rosberg has only said "ok, we still have understeer" but in altogether a positive context as concerns the car. G. Anderson added to this the "snapping" of the rear, also added to this info was Hamilton's comment of the car having less DF than the Mc he drove last season. Note that he said that after driving 15 sporadic laps on Wednesday before his shunt. Anderson is whining about this car from day one, and the behavior he noted from the trackside could be down to many things else than what has been discussed here basically as fact. I don't think there is a definitive conclusion to be drawn with 2 days worth of running in Jerez.

To be fair – Gary Anderson was whining about the McLaren's low nose from day 1 last year, and he was damn well spot on

Oh come on, he said last years Macca had no real innovations, he wasn't impressed and that it wouldn't close the gap to Red Bull. He was plain wrong, it was the fastest car out of the blocks, they stumbled with mid season development before ending the season as the fastest car, bar the pit stop & reliability problems they would have been fighting for both titles.

I just don't rate Gary Anderson, I'm surprised his comments have warranted two pages of discussion.

[GrizzleBoy]

Its possible your sarcasm detector is faulty.

Edit:
I got de-repped for this comment?

Wow.....

[beelsebob]

Its possible your sarcasm detector is faulty.

Haha, I'm glad someone got it.

[wunderkind]

I find it bewildering that some of you think the W04 is some three-wheeled cripple with the aerodynamics of a Volvo 240 wagon that would be consigned to the tail end of the grid. Talk about prejudice......

I think the car is very solid mechanically and all it needs is some real downforce gains and they will be competitive.

[user001]

we will see, according to lauda merc can compete under the top three.

[Shakeman]

I find it bewildering that some of you think the W04 is some three-wheeled cripple with the aerodynamics of a Volvo 240 wagon that would be consigned to the tail end of the grid. Talk about prejudice......

I think the car is very solid mechanically and all it needs is some real downforce gains and they will be competitive.

In all of the footage I saw of the W04 at the tests I saw no sign of the characteristics that GA alluded to. The car looked fine.

Brawn has said there's plenty more coming to the car before Oz. Ham said in one of his interviews parts are being signed off right now for the Oz spec car. Not one team has shown their hand and won't do until the last test.

Every years it's the same, people making their minds up on Test 1 but in actual fact it's not until 2-3 races into the season we actually know who has got a competitive car given tyre and track characteristics.

The fact Lauda is saying what he is saying gives me cause for optimism, he wouldn't be wasting his time getting into the team if they had served up another dud. He'd be calling for heads immediately to show his worth and after all the team has been given plenty enough rope.

The car looks fine on track, there are more parts coming and there appears to be optimism in the team.

@Clipsy1H if Merc are fighting Lotus this years that will be a huge step in the right direction because that Lotus looks pretty exciting.

[wunderkind]

Knowing how much Toto and Niki have tried to trash the previous/existing regime (ie Haug et al). I also think Niki's words are an encouragement.

The W04 might have understeer problems to he resolved, but so does everyone. From all the footages I have seen, Rosberg and Hamilton have been able to achieve respectable lap times without overdriving the car and tearing the tyres to shreds or like Schumacher in the Benetton B194! The W04's grip problems are waaay exaggerated. Hamilton is known to be heavy with his right foot (the key difference between him and Button) and the Pirellis seemed to perform okay.