Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2013

[marcush.]

Well -certainly Ross was contracted to the team based on a schedule -and I imagine he receives the moneys from the sale to Daimler based on this schedule..
Last year it looked quite shaky for his future tbh and he nearly faced the chop but always insisted his future was in his own hands....but zetsche always maintaining firm committments were the basis of the original deal to buy into BrawnGP.

1+1 : Brawn will receive the final installment at the end of this year and can live very well without bagging a title which is not at all a certain deal at this time...

If Ross departure was not already looming quite a while why would the Paddy Lowe deal come so quickly....on the other hand I see Wolff having appetite for that and giving Lowe a Christian Horner like role...

[mantikos]

Ross has also stated in his interviews that he wants to be involved next year to enjoy the fruit of his hardwork and he called it "the year"

I think this article probably doesn't convey what is really going on which is Ross wanting to step down from TD into another non-travel role within the team OR maybe he's just so ticked about Paddy starting early that he changed his mind and is contemplating quitting despite having earlier said he wants to enjoy next year's success that he architected.

[wunderkind]

Honestly, why would you move Paddy Lowe away from design and engineering (where Paddy is most effective) and into team management?!

[marcush.]

Honestly, why would you move Paddy Lowe away from design and engineering (where Paddy is most effective) and into team management?!

Who said he is a great designer? At Mclaren certainly Neil Oatley is the head of design these days so paddys job there was already a senior management role on the technical side ...
It´s no coincidence that well seasoned brilliant designers are not moving to TD positions as management and leading big groups is not the same as coming up with great car concepts and these two rarely go together.You either got one or the other...

[astracrazy]

Honestly, why would you move Paddy Lowe away from design and engineering (where Paddy is most effective) and into team management?!

His previous roles were Engineering Director and Technical Director (and further back Head of this and Head of that) so he wasn't and never really has been the person who does the designing. His always had a management role of the people doing the designing. This will just be the next natural step for him from overseeing a department to overseeing the team.

---

maybe Ross will move back into a similar role as Lauda?

[Hail22]

Nico:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXqgiZ5qm5w[/youtube]

Lewis:

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

[marcush.]

is it just me or is Mercedes AMG Petronas again moving backwards? On a track made for them they get beaten by Hulk in the Sauber and can hold no candle against not only RB but also Ferrari..

Question now is -was the rise in performance just a coincidence of tracks fitting to the car design or are the other teams this much better in adapting their cars to the rubber and all the hard earned advantage has all but evaporated now?

Interestingly in 2012 the car was losing qualy speed vs the opposition in the second half of the season - will this be a trend for this year as well?

I´m still baffled how The team delivered when its future seemed shaky and now that wins are under the belt it seems like
they fall back slowly again..one could assign this to preparation for 2014 as usual-but it still is strange -as new parts are visible -

[Richard]

All teams ebb and flow during a season. It's no surprise to me that a team that has been through so much change will suffer more peaks and troughs than one that is more battle hardened.

[Mika1]

is it just me or is Mercedes AMG Petronas again moving backwards? On a track made for them they get beaten by Hulk in the Sauber and can hold no candle against not only RB but also Ferrari..

Question now is -was the rise in performance just a coincidence of tracks fitting to the car design or are the other teams this much better in adapting their cars to the rubber and all the hard earned advantage has all but evaporated now?

Interestingly in 2012 the car was losing qualy speed vs the opposition in the second half of the season - will this be a trend for this year as well?

I´m still baffled how The team delivered when its future seemed shaky and now that wins are under the belt it seems like
they fall back slowly again..one could assign this to preparation for 2014 as usual-but it still is strange -as new parts are visible -

Mercedes won't compromise 2014 and I totally understand that.

By the way, a podium in Spa contradicts your ''trend''. I think you are a bit too early with your conclusions here.

[Cocles]

Winning Hungary, betting on a mixed conditions setup for Spa with RB going for full dry, and finally a marred Monza (Hamilton damaging the floor, Sutil blocking, and a slow puncture) does not equal Merc going backwards. We also saw Hamilton taking fastest lap after fastest lap.

I'll give you this though, Marcush -- Nico may be moving backwards. Hamilton chewed up Hulkenberg, while Nico sat stuck behind him throughout the full race.

EDIT - I forgot about Nico not being able to finalize the setup of his car, but still-- It's a Sauber, even if Hulkenberg was driving the race of his life. Honestly though, the bias some of us still have against Merc on this forum is just asinine. Where were they to decry RB to such a degree when they didn't dominate Hungary?

[marcush.]

I was not trying to be overly critical ,but Mercedes seemed to be in position to challenge for pole position in almost every race -but not here when it really matters..
It might be too early to see a trend though -even though I don´t believe the teams stop development because of the new car but they stop because the car ran out of development potential without following up blind alleys ..

[beelsebob]

I was not trying to be overly critical ,but Mercedes seemed to be in position to challenge for pole position in almost every race -but not here when it really matters..

The thing is, at the last 3ish races they've not really looked in a position to challenge for pole before qualifying, and then they've still done it.

Who knows how it would have worked out if Lewis hadn't damaged his car.

[astracrazy]

is it safe to assume now the team will be moving on to the 2014 car 100% now?

[monsi]

I rather doubt that ! The opportunity to knock Ferrari into second place in the constructor's championship would be a strange one for a car manufacturer sponsored works team to turn down ...

[astracrazy]

But Ferrari are also considering knocking the 2013 car on the head after Singapore (depending on the championship situation)

I can't see the team would put 2nd place this year over 2014?