Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2013

[astracrazy]

Yep and not next season as 2014 is meant to be 'the' year

[thevlack]

I'm happy for MERC, they managed to pull some of the presure from Stuttgart way...

From a MSC and now MERC fan, I'm way more cautios over my impresion of the team, (This could still be one off -- and then go backwards a little) I prefer to be happy now and give the team a few more races to see if they ara capable of keeping this form and still being able to fight the bulls...

Car seams, or to me at least, gives a impresion of more solid, stronger that then the onbes that came before, but dont count the Bulls out just yet.

And in regards of 2014... I have my doubts, as all new Power Units, and that's a gamble you dont know how good the other engines are so you may have a "almost perfect" but you can still lose if the engine is not up to the chalenge.

Just dropping my 2 cents here..

[beelsebob]

i have to agree on the good job but c'mon... after THAT test everything has changed... u can't deny it...

That Test

Yes THAT test, I dont believe in miracles, see the peformance of the cars in Barcelona and see the performance of the "same" cars in a very similar circuit like Silverstone(fast corners, high tyre degradation, high downforce). In a month the step forward has been bigger than in 3 years, I am happy for Lewis and Nico, I would have liked to see Schumi driving this car but I smile for Nico because he has suffered so much the last three years...

There's a huge difference between Barcelona and Silverstone – it's called 10°C.

[diego.liv]

I'm posting this both here and in Team thread:
Last year, Jerez 1st winter test Mercedes used the W02 "...to understand the tyres better..."

Could be very useful to ask Pirelli to attend the 500km test with 2 years old car (right the W02)? I know Merc has all 2012 tyres-data, but since they won't run Silverstone 2012-tyres test next july (during which, other teams will have direct comparison between '12car-'12tyres AND '13car-'12tyres), Merc can make the comparison between '11car-'12tyres (from Jerez2012 and this year 2years-old-car-test) to TRANSFER INFOS TO '13car-'12tyres

[FoxHound]

http://www.f1today.net/en/news/red-bull ... h-rosberg?


For Helmut Marko....

[danielk]

In light of the new limits that pirelli are putting on the tires is this likely to affect some more than others? They are stopping the switching tires and stopping the large levels of camber teams are running. is there any evidence to suggest who might have been running high camber levels previously to gain speed and who this might affect adversely?

[cherok1212]

If I'm correct (and its all based on information from Merc and Pirelli) but during the test weren't they running an experimental 2014 spec tire? With the understanding that every time an F1 car is run information is gained, how much does a test on those tires suddenly transform deg levels to the point of two out of three wins on 2013 spec rubber? Wouldn't it have more to do with work done by highly regarded people over weeks than three days in Barca (though I'm sure it didn't hurt)? Monaco and Canada were there to be had for MB but Silverstone was a loud and aggressive knock on the front door of RB.

[Vasconia]

There's a huge difference between Barcelona and Silverstone – it's called 10°C.

Last year the temperatures were different too and the peformance was quite similar, Mercedes was out of the top teams when tyre degradation and high downforce was important, once again the main difference is the test with Pirelli.

And yes, this season´s car is better but they were suffering from the same problem, but in this case the evolution has been stronger, they had better ideas and finally, but not least important, a test where YOU ARE THE ONLY TEAM helps a lot.

[beelsebob]

There's a huge difference between Barcelona and Silverstone – it's called 10°C.

Last year the temperatures were different too and the peformance was quite similar, Mercedes was out of the top teams when tyre degradation and high downforce was important, once again the main difference is the test with Pirelli.

Last year Mercedes' car was different. This year's Mercedes has already proved to be very tyre temperature and track temperature sensitive. It performing well at a cool track is not a surprise.

[SectorOne]

Quite scary when you think about it.

The Brit admitted to media on Thursday ahead of the German Grand Prix that he is still not fully confident with the car. He voiced his concern with the car prior to Qualifying for the British Grand Prix but took pole position, something he felt was definitely a positive: “It is definitely a positive to take away from it.”

He also can’t wait to feel 100% confident with his race car, saying: “When I do feel 100 per cent in this car, I am looking forward to that moment.”

Brakes have been one of the biggest concerns recently but he feels that the team are helping to make steps forward, as shown at Silverstone: “There are lots of tracks coming that I still have to get the most out of this car which I haven’t done yet,”



“As Nico proved, there are lots of potential in the car. I was at a track [Silverstone] where there wasn’t much braking, although the braking was pretty strong that weekend. I am hoping that continues here, where there is lots of braking. But time will tell.

“The team is already doing a great job with the right steps, the right direction. At the last race the brakes were feeling better so I am definitely feeling more comfortable.”

Despite the high-speed tyre failure that dropped him down the field early in the British Grand Prix, the 2008 world champion is feeling more and more confident with the tyres and thinks that Mercedes are starting to get to grips with their earlier tyre wear issues: “It was quite warm in Silverstone and we were quite competitive still. It is probably the first weekend that I felt like we could push quite a lot and the tyres stayed with us.

“That was due to the guys doing a lot of work to keep the tyres in better shape and it seems to be working.”

Hamilton was the last Formula 1 driver to win at the Nurburgring circuit after taking victory for McLaren in 2011.

[Vasconia]

There's a huge difference between Barcelona and Silverstone – it's called 10°C.

Last year the temperatures were different too and the peformance was quite similar, Mercedes was out of the top teams when tyre degradation and high downforce was important, once again the main difference is the test with Pirelli.

Last year Mercedes' car was different. This year's Mercedes has already proved to be very tyre temperature and track temperature sensitive. It performing well at a cool track is not a surprise.

But last years car worked much better with lower temperatures, this fact hasnt changed too much, the WO4, as the WO3, prefers the low temperature situation.

[SectorOne]

Seems quite genuine. Good chemistry in the team it seems.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K0wEWq8AMo[/youtube]

[marcush.]

track temperature wise they are quite lucky till now but kudos to them the car is reliable and they do not struggle in their pitwork so it looks as if they have raised their game considerably.
Maybe wolff is a notch too agressive towards RedBull and i would not be surprised when he was instrumental in doing that Pirelli test ....

[WhiteBlue]

The gearbox is terrible. I can't change gears. lol
If they had had one of Rosemeyer's Autounions they would have had a lot more problems. Those things handled like pigs. Massive understeer.

[marcush.]

Very unfortunate for MGP this "secret " tyre test exactly marks their turnaround even if it seems very unlikely one could gain that much from a single test .
I rather think they have learned from mistakes of recent years and their new car allows for changes in suspension geometry without compromising the structure of their car .
Obviously they have been in a position to adapt the setup to put the car into a workable window without sacrificing speed recently -something impossible in the years before.
We can also conclude against all fears and predictions the commitee has chosen not to hose down the other chefs in the kitchen but all seems to proceed in an organised manner aiming forward...remarkable.
The one itching bit is how long it took them from 2009 to arrive at that point and how many people from other teams they needed to hire -which is completely contradicting the original aim and claim of a close knit ,efficient small team compared to the spacetravel undertaking of Mclaren International ..I think they have easily reached similar levels of spending in these years..so be it if Daimler is prepared to spend that sort of moneys.
Considering how Honda ,BMW and Toyota (not speaking of Ford/Jaguar and other manufacturers )failed in epic ways to win as Works outfits consistantly the latest rise of form deserves credit methinks