Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2013

[xpensive]

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And as a little aside....look at how similar the two machines are.
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Eh HoundDog, all contemporary Formula 1 cars look the same if you ask me?

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Intriguingly Mercedes had a very competitive time when things looked increasingly shaky for them in stuttgart.Now the tides have ebbed away and they fall back into remote control cruising .
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Perhaps the competition has clawed back the mid-season advantage MGP got from chosen to select Pirelli's new rubber?

[dren]

Part is the competition has clawed back, part is Mercedes severly underperforming in the races. They have squandered a lot of points in the last few races. They haven't been in the position to win a race since Red Bull's resurgence, but they certainly should have been on the podium.

[SectorOne]

I think Red Bull has made a step, particularly in quali performance with the aid of the new tires.
Mercedes had the edge until Germany, then it got awfully close for 3 races, then Red Bull edged ahead.

But yes, in terms of races Mercedes have had some pretty shitty races recently. Bad luck, weird things happening on track (ROS front wing), drive-through´s etc.
Not been on point like Red Bull who just keeps getting better everytime we have a race.

[marcush.]

It´s for a reason Vettel claimed his sustained success has a reason:When everyone else is dipping their test....s into the water (he really said that!) RedBulls guys still work hard to find improvements..
It may be harsh but in the end it is exactly this:you create your own luck.If Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 does suffer from nose cones falling from the car they have only themselves to blame .There is NO element of luck in a fastener failing under
specified load cases in a normal situation .Make your calcs and specify the product and make sure the part meets the spec.
It´s as simple as that .....There is a lifing with all bits and pieces as your safety margin may be slim to save another gramme or two.

But the key point is they have already written off this season and others have not .

[xpensive]

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But the key point is they have already written off this season and others have not .

I must have misunderstood, I thought the three, or four, kings were working in sequence on cars for different seasons?

[GitanesBlondes]

The Rosberg front wing was not bad luck, but down to utter negligence on the part of the team. When is the last time such a thing even happened, where the front nose collapsed under the load?

[SectorOne]

There is NO element of luck in a fastener failing under
specified load cases in a normal situation .Make your calcs and specify the product and make sure the part meets the spec.
It´s as simple as that .....

You can do all the protocols, all the checks, run the device for days and weeks in testing, years in races and one day "--- happens" and it simply breaks.

It´s impossible to make something 100% bulletproof. 99.999% maybe but never 100%.

[xpensive]

You can obviously do all that, but with such an item it doesn't seem plausible that you miss out on proper safety margins,
as they would hardly cost you that much, unless you are BAR and lose the entire rear bodywork on your first test-run?

More like an unexpected run-in somewhere?

[raymondu999]

The Rosberg front wing was not bad luck, but down to utter negligence on the part of the team. When is the last time such a thing even happened, where the front nose collapsed under the load?

FP3 Silverstone 2010 on Vettel's Red Bull.

Let's not get into the politics of that incident tho. But that was the last time I remember such a failure, without collision.

[FoxHound]

I guess even the mighty red bull are prone to "negligence".
Mclaren too, as I recall rear wings flying off at some stage or another.

Interesting also that Mercedes isolated the fault as a material flaw from a trusted supplier.
The design had also been in use for 8 years.
Seems overly critical using such rhetoric as "negligence".

But hey my opinion there.

[Richard]

I'm not sure one incident merits claims of "utter negligence". Yes it is embarrassing.

Other teams have had embarrassing moments including various loose wheels in recent years, the spring that hit Massa, Webber's failed nose at Silverstone, Massa driving off with fuel hose still attached, etc. Its a shame that anything to do with Merc attracts strong emotional responses both for and against.

[xpensive]

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Its a shame that anything to do with Merc attracts strong emotional responses both for and against.

How could it possibly be otherwise richard, this team has a line-up like Edmonton Oilers of the 80s, Chicago Bulls of the 90s or Real Madrid of the 00s. You know how people are, either they want the team to win everything or to fail miserably?

[dren]

You can obviously do all that, but with such an item it doesn't seem plausible that you miss out on proper safety margins,
as they would hardly cost you that much, unless you are BAR and lose the entire rear bodywork on your first test-run?

More like an unexpected run-in somewhere?

At least it wasn't a spring flying off the car...

[SectorOne]

You can obviously do all that, but with such an item it doesn't seem plausible that you miss out on proper safety margins,
as they would hardly cost you that much, unless you are BAR and lose the entire rear bodywork on your first test-run?

More like an unexpected run-in somewhere?

Red Bull has experienced this odd thing too, but luckily in a practice sessions rather then a race.



I´m positive Red Bull´s front wing passed all the tests prior to this with flying colors.
Although they probably toughened up the tests after this but it ran just fine prior to the failure.

[munudeges]

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But the key point is they have already written off this season and others have not .

I must have misunderstood, I thought the three, or four, kings were working in sequence on cars for different seasons?

Yer. I mean if one of them is concentrating on next year, what are the others doing?