Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2013

[marcush.]

ross on tyre "understanding"
http://www.motorsport-total.com/f1/new ... 2012.html
he is airing the theory that other teams do not really understand the tyres and bases this on a) their unability to produce quicker qualy times than Mercedes and sudden unexplainable falls from grace .
Implicitly he admits their latest rise was more a lucking into a good configuration than anything else by this claim and he also admits they need to work on solving tyre problems by using simulation tools and tackling the problem model based in the same ways they rised their understanding of the coanda effect .
Unfortunatelly he also admits their sharp rise of understanding (exhausts)came only due to sacrificing the second half of 2012 for long testing sessions when others were actually racing ...
And he explicitly does admit they have not yet that breakthrough in tyre "understanding" ..confirming basically it is Pirellis honour to produce a tyre ideally suited to w04 in Budapest not the heroic efforts of AMGMPGP nailing the new tyres without even being able to test them beforehand

I have difficulties to understand what Mercedes did beforehand when claiming to put all into trying to understand the tyres..

[Richard]

I'm seeing Whitmarsh and Brawn saying the same thing, they both accidentally discovered things about their car that was inconsistent with the predicted performance.

McLaren discovered unexpected high pace through a mistake in the set up in the winter but couldn't use it. Fortunately Merc stumbled on an answer that can be used in the races.

From Whitmarsh's recent comments the opposite was true last year, then McLaren had unexplained higher pace than their analysis predicted, while Merc had unexplained poorer performance. Neither team knew how that was happening.

[adrianjordan]

If what Ross Brawn is saying is true, can Mercedes work from the setup they found that was clearly in the "sweet spot" for them for the remaining races or will we see their performance be inconsistent for the remainder of the season?

[prince]

I would say, last year they clearly lucked into a setup in Chinese gp and couldn't repeat it in similar conditions thorughout the year. This year, their performance has been consistent in cooler weather. In shanghai they were competitive and silverstone, very good. With the fact that the tyres are more durable now (more suited) and they have demonstrated good tyre life and performance in Hungary, it would be hard to believe that they would lose this understanding for the remainder of the season. So keeping fingers crossed that it would be an upward trend.

[SectorOne]

If what Ross Brawn is saying is true, can Mercedes work from the setup they found that was clearly in the "sweet spot" for them for the remaining races or will we see their performance be inconsistent for the remainder of the season?

For the good of the championship, yes, let´s hope so. Hamitlon vs Vettel, BRING IT.

[Donuts]

If what Ross Brawn is saying is true, can Mercedes work from the setup they found that was clearly in the "sweet spot" for them for the remaining races or will we see their performance be inconsistent for the remainder of the season?

http://jacobbock.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pray.jpg

For the good of the championship, yes, let´s hope so. Hamitlon vs Vettel, BRING IT.

Don't think it's that easy. This "sweet spot" is most likely only valid for that specific race, due to track characteristics and weather (not mentioning tyre options).

[Glyn]

Sounds like Ross is playing it down a bit...

[GitanesBlondes]

ross on tyre "understanding"
http://www.motorsport-total.com/f1/new ... 2012.html
he is airing the theory that other teams do not really understand the tyres and bases this on a) their unability to produce quicker qualy times than Mercedes and sudden unexplainable falls from grace .
Implicitly he admits their latest rise was more a lucking into a good configuration than anything else by this claim and he also admits they need to work on solving tyre problems by using simulation tools and tackling the problem model based in the same ways they rised their understanding of the coanda effect .
Unfortunatelly he also admits their sharp rise of understanding (exhausts)came only due to sacrificing the second half of 2012 for long testing sessions when others were actually racing ...
And he explicitly does admit they have not yet that breakthrough in tyre "understanding" ..confirming basically it is Pirellis honour to produce a tyre ideally suited to w04 in Budapest not the heroic efforts of AMGMPGP nailing the new tyres without even being able to test them beforehand

I have difficulties to understand what Mercedes did beforehand when claiming to put all into trying to understand the tyres..

If the team blitzes Spa with no issues, couldn't it be argued that they did indeed figure something out even though they are making claims to the contrary?

I find it hard to believe they, or even the other teams don't understand the tires. What is a different situation altogether is being able to design the car to meet the needs of the tires in a way that actually allows the car to perform to the level needed to win races.

[marcush.]

I think understanding the tyres is knowing how to extract the most from them to the maxium benefit over a grandprix distance ,including having to use them for qualy.
obviously some teams used the tyres in a ways detoriating them much quicker than others but without extracting better lap time from them .
You may be able to do a few things with the tyres in "new" condition to make them more durable.but in essence it is something in your car layout that simply does not fit the characteristic of those tyres and this will always hurt your overall performance.
Some guys here may not remember those times of tyre wars but the second league of formula 1 teams -those who did not do the tyre development with Goodyear Bridgestone ,Michelin had to make do with what they received from the tyre company cum race weekend
In early michelin days Renault was development partner and surprise surprise the french rubber suited the Renault well but unfortunatelly for others Renault used a very unusual weight distribution compared to the others (very rear heavy) giving the others big headaches ..
Or Ferrari moving more and more weight to the front ,even increasing front tyre size ...the others had to live with it but could not use the extra potential available.

[Hail22]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvbP7VR28e4[/youtube]

[Cocles]

YouTube Video

Cool to see Bob Bell featured.

[mantikos]

http://www.planetf1.com/news/3213/88916 ... rawn-Stays

However, Lauda has admitted that Brawn wants to step down at the end of the season, but he is trying to convince him otherwise.

"I talked to Ross on Tuesday and tried to convince him to be there [at the team next year]," he told BBC Sport. "I can't force him. It's his decision but I think I'm making good progress."

"I have to say Ross Brawn and his team have made sensational changes, we were nowhere last year but now have driver and technician changes and we now have eight poles and three wins. We've done a great job from where we came from."

[astracrazy]

I think he should stay for next season at least. If they are as successful as they are expecting then he should be the one heading it up and would be a good exit for him. I can't imagine he'd would want to step down before what they see as 'there' year - just doesn't make sense to me

[dren]

The way that reads is that Brawn set up this whole thing on his own, it wasn't upper management forcing him out. That seems to make sense, especially with Brawn constantly stating earlier in the year that he was in control of his future. I do hope Brawn stays.

[astracrazy]

I think your right, it just seems strange why he would want to leave before next year. You'd think he would want to stay and 'complete the job'

or he feels that the team is in such a good shape the job is done. Just don't get why walk away when the team says next year is the year - why not stay and be part of it