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I really believe the Mercedes is not much of an upgrade from Renault anymore. Now Renault has sorted their reliability problem, they are as good on Sunday and just slightly behind on Saturday. Ferrari would be and upgrade, but not gonna happen.
Besides that, they left Mercedes because it was not a works deal and it is proven Mercedes turns down their customer engines it the feel the need to do so.
You need to update your database, that was banned some years ago, now any PU manufacturer must provide same PU spec and same mappings to all of their customer teams
Thats such a greyzone though. The modes can be available hardware and software but that doesnt mean that the Mercedes engineers in the back of the garage would ever give the go-ahead to apply them. Contractually im sure Mercedes has full control over how their unit is run,and the costumer might not even know the full extent of the power modes available.
I do not believe Mercedes is, in any way of form, downtuning their customers more then they do their own team. I think this rumor started when it became known that the Mercedes engineer at a team must allow a change in mode. At first glance this looks like downtuning or overly control but it’s in the nature of the engines and how Mercedes designed the modes. In 2014 a PU had to last 5 races or so and had a huge difference between their normal racing mode and full power setting (the party mode). If you use full power setting, good chance a PU wouldn’t even last a GP. It’s all about PU management. FI, Williams and in 2014 McLaren just weren’t good enough. Plus, it was McLaren (once again) who opted to run different fuel and liquids then the other Mercedes teams...
McLaren has already started developing the car for 2020. Significantly earlier than in previous years. Team boss Andreas Seidl explains in detail what the team from Woking needs for the attack on the top teams.
B ei McLaren moves a bit. From ninth place last year, the team from Woking made a big leap forward. Currently leads the midfield 20 counters in front of Renault clear. Above all, the constancy of papaya-orange racing cars is impressive. While the competition weakens again and again, Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz collect points regularly.
However, the new team boss Andreas Seidl does not even try to earn the laurels for the turnaround: "Many measures that were carried out last year are paying off now. The weaknesses of our old car have been correctly identified and corrected. The feedback from our former driver certainly helped. It's also thanks to Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne. "
If possible, you want to defend fourth place in the constructors' cup course until the end of the season. That is not the most important thing. The development of the current car is still running, but at the same time you can look forward to the coming year: "We have long begun work on the car for 2020. The switch was completed much earlier than last year, "reveals the Bayer. "We are now in the process of planning when to completely stop the evolution of the current model and move all resources to the new car so that we can take the next step in 2020."
Praise to engine partner Renault
In recent years, the development of the new car had to be delayed again and again, which was mainly related to the change of the engine partner from Honda to Renault end of 2017. Now, McLaren is finally back in normal rhythm. About the partnership with Renault Seidl finds only words of praise. The fact that the contract expires at the end of 2020 does not worry the team management.
"It's nice to hear that Renault continues to invest in its equipment. That's why we do not have a big headache in this regard. The good development over the past winter has already been very encouraging. And the latest updates have always brought the promised progress, "Seidl compliments the Frenchman.
The engine is also not the limiting factor in terms of the attack on the top three teams. The new team boss knows that you have to improve on the chassis. Efficient downforce is the magic word. The gap to the front is relatively large. Therefore, Seidl asks the fans for some patience. And his own team urges him to change the mentality and raise the claims higher.
Seidl demands courage to risk
The new team boss explains his approach: "The bad results from last year and the restlessness in the team certainly did not help. Above all, we need stability, more self-confidence and courage. The culture and the mood have to change. I am someone who always encourages employees to take risks and protect them when things go wrong. You have to accept that mistakes happen. Just make sure they do not happen twice. "
According to Seidl, in large companies like McLaren, individuals are not responsible for the success. That's why he does not want to overstate his own role. Since May, the 43-year-old is now officially on board. And the Passauer still learns every day: "I'm the rookie in the team. Of course, I try everywhere to contribute and contribute my experience. But we have many very talented people in key positions. Now it's all about welding together a real team. "
Seidl must bring both his talents as an engineer and his skills as a manager: "I think we still do not get the full potential out of the organization. It is now my job to identify the weaknesses in development work and infrastructure. We have to analyze if all our tools work. They are the basis for aggressive development work in the coming years. "
Changes in staff and infrastructure
In general, McLaren is already on the right track. Seidl is a real team player here: "We have all the building blocks on board to take the next step. For example, I am very happy with our new Chief Technology Officer James Key taking the lead in developing both this year's and next year's cars. I am also very pleased with the work of Andrea Stella as he throws the show here with his engineering team at the track. Working with Paul James, our team manager, is also working very well. He manages the mechanics and is responsible for our fast pit stops. "
Engineer veteran Pat Fry will separate the last rumors in the paddock. It has not yet been decided on further personnel changes or an increase of the workforce, as Seidl explains: "We have to wait and see how the rules for 2021 look exactly. Then we will analyze what we need in concrete terms. "
When it comes to infrastructure you are already there. The planning for the construction of the new wind tunnel in Woking has long begun. He will be ready in 2021 at the earliest. Seidl thanks the company bosses for their confidence: "It is important that we have the support of Zak and the team owners who make such investments in the team. In the end, all that counts for me and the team is to implement the whole thing step by step. There are no magic tricks, everything will take time. We are optimistic, but at the same time we have to be realistic. "
Q: (Stefano Mancini – La Stampa) Kimi, will you help Vettel to win his championship this year?
Kimi Raikkonen: I can only drive one car, obviously.
@2018 Singapore Grand Prix drivers press conference.
You need to update your database, that was banned some years ago, now any PU manufacturer must provide same PU spec and same mappings to all of their customer teams
Thats such a greyzone though. The modes can be available hardware and software but that doesnt mean that the Mercedes engineers in the back of the garage would ever give the go-ahead to apply them. Contractually im sure Mercedes has full control over how their unit is run,and the costumer might not even know the full extent of the power modes available.
Do you really think Williams & Racing Point would be happy running around at the back of the pack if they thought Mercedes had turned their engines power down, and they wouldn’t be protesting from the roof tops?
Or Mercedes would be happy seeing their customers beat by their competitors when they could just flip a few switches and give them more power?
Yeah yeah yeah...let's sabotage our PUs to make ourselves look bad!
If they were in direct competition the scrutiny would be huge too.
Last edited by diffuser on 06 Jul 2019, 22:39, edited 1 time in total.
Thats such a greyzone though. The modes can be available hardware and software but that doesnt mean that the Mercedes engineers in the back of the garage would ever give the go-ahead to apply them. Contractually im sure Mercedes has full control over how their unit is run,and the costumer might not even know the full extent of the power modes available.
Do you really think Williams & Racing Point would be happy running around at the back of the pack if they thought Mercedes had turned their engines power down, and they wouldn’t be protesting from the roof tops?
Or Mercedes would be happy seeing their customers beat by their competitors when they could just flip a few switches and give them more power?
Didn't say that was the case. Personally I think the costumer teams get a fair and broad range of power modes to use, lets say from 1 to 10. But if they get the killer settings "11" which the main team gets for emergencies? I don't know. I'm sure Mercedes acts in the interest of their costumers as well as in the interest of themselves and the image portrayed in the media. I'm not much for conspiracies, but one should not be naive and think Mercedes might risk a blow-up for their costumer to gain P10. Also I'm sure the costumers are contract bound to not do their dirty laundry in the media, as indeed was hinted to in the Grosjean at Spa article.
Thats such a greyzone though. The modes can be available hardware and software but that doesnt mean that the Mercedes engineers in the back of the garage would ever give the go-ahead to apply them. Contractually im sure Mercedes has full control over how their unit is run,and the costumer might not even know the full extent of the power modes available.
Do you really think Williams & Racing Point would be happy running around at the back of the pack if they thought Mercedes had turned their engines power down, and they wouldn’t be protesting from the roof tops?
Or Mercedes would be happy seeing their customers beat by their competitors when they could just flip a few switches and give them more power?
Didn't say that was the case. Personally I think the costumer teams get a fair and broad range of power modes to use, lets say from 1 to 10. But if they get the killer settings "11" which the main team gets for emergencies? I don't know. I'm sure Mercedes acts in the interest of their costumers as well as in the interest of themselves and the image portrayed in the media. I'm not much for conspiracies, but one should not be naive and think Mercedes might risk a blow-up for their costumer to gain P10. Also I'm sure the costumers are contract bound to not do their dirty laundry in the media, as indeed was hinted to in the Grosjean at Spa article.
If the FIA saw that, Merc would be disqualified from the race. I doubt they would risk it.
Basically if a mapping doesn't show up on either of the other customer teams, they can't use it.
I really believe the Mercedes is not much of an upgrade from Renault anymore. Now Renault has sorted their reliability problem, they are as good on Sunday and just slightly behind on Saturday. Ferrari would be and upgrade, but not gonna happen.
Besides that, they left Mercedes because it was not a works deal and it is proven Mercedes turns down their customer engines it the feel the need to do so.
You need to update your database, that was banned some years ago, now any PU manufacturer must provide same PU spec and same mappings to all of their customer teams
Thats such a greyzone though. The modes can be available hardware and software but that doesnt mean that the Mercedes engineers in the back of the garage would ever give the go-ahead to apply them. Contractually im sure Mercedes has full control over how their unit is run,and the costumer might not even know the full extent of the power modes available.
But FIA knows.
Also, considering next Mercedes powered car is Racing Point with just 19 points, only 2 ahead of STR, it would be completely absurd to limit their customers teams further than necessary, it would be risking a disqualifying of the works team for no reason at all, and also causing a poor image of their own PUs.
That sort of conspiracy theory might have some logic when there are a direct competition, like Renault and McLaren now, but with Mercedes PUs IMHO it´s utter nosense
Could be, I'll see if I can get anyone to talk next weekend, champagne helps lubricate tongues
Did the champagne trick help, or did you end up drinking a little too much to remember the details
There's a Silverstone package coming, the new front suspension should be run for testing again, but apart from that they were keeping tight lips on details or floor
Could be, I'll see if I can get anyone to talk next weekend, champagne helps lubricate tongues
Did the champagne trick help, or did you end up drinking a little too much to remember the details
There's a Silverstone package coming, the new front suspension should be run for testing again, but apart from that they were keeping tight lips on details or floor
Thanks for the update, how was FOS?
Q: (Stefano Mancini – La Stampa) Kimi, will you help Vettel to win his championship this year?
Kimi Raikkonen: I can only drive one car, obviously.
@2018 Singapore Grand Prix drivers press conference.
Carlos said that Silverstone is a good fit for McLaren and he expects a strong performance. It is also very interesting what a new motor is capable of in qualifying.
Carlos said that Silverstone is a good fit for McLaren and he expects a strong performance. It is also very interesting what a new motor is capable of in qualifying.
Good point you bring up there, about qualifying. Carlos says he didn't use the qualy modes, so we haven't seen it on a McLaren yet. I wonder if Lando will take the engine in Silverstone.
Q: (Stefano Mancini – La Stampa) Kimi, will you help Vettel to win his championship this year?
Kimi Raikkonen: I can only drive one car, obviously.
@2018 Singapore Grand Prix drivers press conference.
Carlos said that Silverstone is a good fit for McLaren and he expects a strong performance. It is also very interesting what a new motor is capable of in qualifying.
Good point you bring up there, about qualifying. Carlos says he didn't use the qualy modes, so we haven't seen it on a McLaren yet. I wonder if Lando will take the engine in Silverstone.
probably. even if the PU he had in the car last race isnt due to be swapped yet, he wont get a penalty, and they can always go back to the older spec if they need to.
Regarding the PU, it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility if engine manufacturer could keep some tricks to themselves, for example they could give slightly conservative cooling requirements to the customer teams while they design their car to the absolute cooling limit (could be what caused Mercedes to lift and coast in Austria while others Mercedes powered teams didn't need to lift and coast). Another way an engine manufacturer can influence is by being late in specifying exact layout and measurements of their engine. By giving this information to their aero team before giving it to customer teams, they can allow themselves to have a little bit of an edge.
That being said, I doubt Mercedes really needs to do anything at this moment in time as their chassis and engine are great. It's doubtful McLaren would challenge them for wins and thus all of these "tricks" aren't really necessary.
