Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2013

[Arterius]

I don't get why so many people are complaining about the Merc tire deg. Ham finished right behind the Lotus of Kimi and they started next to each other. Wouldn't that put the Merc on the same level as the tire deg kings Lotus in this race?

[Cocles]

Agreed. Their tire deg is on par with the other front running teams. The W04 is not flawed like its predecessors. It's less developed though in some areas, which fortunately gives a decent tradeoff, since that means there's still plenty more speed to be squeezed out of it throughout the season.

[Maelstrom]

If they keep up te development pace I can see them easily finish 4th and challenging for third.

See... Nico and Hamilton are both great drivers. Nico has been having bad luck, but once Merc get their act together they should be one of the more consistent pairs.

Grosjean and Massa, on the other hand are unpredictable. Either they are really good or really bad.

That, I think, give Merc a slight advantage. They have better drivers and a competitive car.

I think maybe second might be a bit too much to hope for, considering they finished fifth last year... but they certainly shouldn't finish two-three hundred points behind the top team. I mean they have already got two podiums in three races and a pole. Thats almost better than their entire campaign of last year. I can see them getting an odd win sometime this year, too, maybe monaco.

[Vasconia]

Agreed. Their tire deg is on par with the other front running teams. The W04 is not flawed like its predecessors. It's less developed though in some areas, which fortunately gives a decent tradeoff, since that means there's still plenty more speed to be squeezed out of it throughout the season.

Well, this is not true at 100%. If you take a look to the first stint the two Mercedes were slower than their rivals, then with less fuel the situation improved and though Lewis destroyed the tyres faster than Alonso and KImi, he was not that far from their performance.

Lets see what happens in Bahrein, one of the hottest races of all the season. I think they will be behind the top 3 teams but I hope I am wrong and his tyre degradation is not so bad with high temperatures.

[FoxHound]

Well, this is not true at 100%. If you take a look to the first stint the two Mercedes were slower than their rivals, then with less fuel the situation improved and though Lewis destroyed the tyres faster than Alonso and KImi, he was not that far from their performance.

Back in Novemeber of 2012, Mercedes where still playing around with various coanda solutions. They where late to the party in this respect, but what is more important is the extra fuel they carry in the initial phase of a GP.
Schumacher guessed it was as much as 10/15 KG's more than those who had adopted the system earlier, and had time to refine it for added efficiency.

It's not unforseeable that Mercedes are still running heavy initially, only to then reassert their FP and qualy pace in the second half of races. I don't think MB brixworth(engines) will be investing much more in the V8's so this problem may be here to stay.
Unless of course any information gleaned from the V8 coanda solution is transferable to the V6 turbo.

[siskue2005]

I don't get why so many people are complaining about the Merc tire deg. Ham finished right behind the Lotus of Kimi and they started next to each other. Wouldn't that put the Merc on the same level as the tire deg kings Lotus in this race?

but a wounded Lotus, without his wing problem Kimi would have been near Alonso

[Pierce89]

I don't get why so many people are complaining about the Merc tire deg. Ham finished right behind the Lotus of Kimi and they started next to each other. Wouldn't that put the Merc on the same level as the tire deg kings Lotus in this race?

without his wing problem Kimi would have been near Alonso

Pure speculation. If you watch F1 often, I'm sure you've seen pleinty of drivers damage their front wing and stay at the same pace. Massa once got quicker after damaging his front wing.

[Neno]

I don't get why so many people are complaining about the Merc tire deg. Ham finished right behind the Lotus of Kimi and they started next to each other. Wouldn't that put the Merc on the same level as the tire deg kings Lotus in this race?

without his wing problem Kimi would have been near Alonso

Pure speculation. If you watch F1 often, I'm sure you've seen pleinty of drivers damage their front wing and stay at the same pace. Massa once got quicker after damaging his front wing.

lotus isnt ferrari and kimi isnt massa, lotus dont have correlation problem tunnel and make car faster with broken car and wings....they understand the car.... also kimi said he had a big understeer, and he dose not lying, as in ferrari who have big gap to close according to alonso even he win pretty easy KImi because broken nose and wing had second stint bit shorter then others because he goes in box change angle of wing to make car a bit better.

lotus is first or second fastest team with ferrari (in first 3 races), and have good tire usage, and i think only slight margin seperate them (depends mostly how much alonso or kimi that weekend get out from the car with strategy). because alonso win in china pretty much as kimi in australia, and kimi in china came second pretty much as was alonso in australia.

but i have -1 reputation and according to that my post wont be valuable someone with +12

[Anon123]

Have a bit more respect Neno instead of ending everything with the eye roll emoticon.

Pure speculation. If you watch F1 often, I'm sure you've seen pleinty of drivers damage their front wing and stay at the same pace. Massa once got quicker after damaging his front wing.

Exactly, the car would have been marginally lighter and the front of the car would have taken a shape which is outside of the rules so it could have easily been beneficial. Kimi didn't seem to drop off at all, it makes me wonder why certain parts on F1 cars don't fall off intentionally so a driver starts a race with a legal car but completes it in one outside of the regulations. What we have seen so far is 3 different tracks which the Merc has been one of the best cars at, if the Merc is still one of the best cars by the time we get to Monaco then I will be confident that Merc can mount a serious title challenge.

[korzeniow]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/106406

He didn't quite manage to blow this bubble that Mercedes PR department would like him to

[Cocles]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/106406

He didn't quite manage to blow this bubble that Mercedes PR department would like him to

i lol'd so hard on first when i saw title of article, then i calmed down, and again started reading i lol'd so hard again how Mercedes think they are on top with Red Bull when not even Red Bull is nowhere top in 2/3 races in dry.

That article was written after the Malaysian Grand Prix, where Mercedes dominated everyone except Red Bull. To be looking back at an article that old, and outright laughing at them? I wonder if monday-morning quarterbacking to that degree is something one should brag about?

[Neno]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/106406

He didn't quite manage to blow this bubble that Mercedes PR department would like him to

i lol'd so hard on first when i saw title of article, then i calmed down, and again started reading i lol'd so hard again how Mercedes think they are on top with Red Bull when not even Red Bull is nowhere top in 2/3 races in dry.

That article was written after the Malaysian Grand Prix, where Mercedes dominated everyone except Red Bull. To be looking back at an article that old, and outright laughing at them? I wonder if monday-morning quarterbacking to that degree is something one should brag about?

Mercedes simply didnt dominate no one, it was par of lucky coincidence, they race pace was similar to this one in china, and bit better then in australia.
fast but not fast to dominate, also they had a bit lucky in malaysia as red bull (with rain), ferrari had bad weekend as lotus also, their first two drivers get DNF or stucked with penalty, and other two underperfomed as they are did in china and australia. sure i can see where Mercedes find optimism for results, but they are in no case fastest or dominating team. for china predict mercedes in fight for podium, not win for understaning. I can hardly imagine Mercedes over Lotus or Ferrari in Bahrein (they really need to find some sweat spot setup), last year they had terrible weekend there

[PhillipM]

It doesn't say they are fastest....

[Neno]

It doesn't say they are fastest....

He said dominate...

[Maelstrom]

I'm expecting both Mercs to finish atleast in the top 6 or 7. They are good enough for that.