Mercedes GP MGP W01

[i70q7m7ghw]

So... that car huh... I think it's called the W01... what do we think of that?

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Not wanting to disagree, but the 100million was for 2009. What about all the money spent during 2008 when they abandoned the development of the 2008 car early on in the season.

That was Honda, this is Mercedes. Gestation periods in F1 mean that the W01 is nothing more than a Brawn/Honda hybrid with a Merc V8.
The reason its suffering is because during the W01 gestation period, alot of financial trouble hit the team. They lost alot of the work force and this had a negative impact on the squad. That Mercedes came along and slapped fancy silver paint work doesnt make it any more Mercedes in my eyes.

But officially speaking it is. Next year we will see wether they have learned anything.

[aral]

It is interesting to read that Schumacher is already playing down an improvement in 2011. Does he know something that the rest of us , doesn't?

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Perhaps he wants less fanfare this time round gilgen.

I'm watching the team like a hawk at the moment and they seem to be wanting to keep a low profile.
I hope its not because of any singular issue, more becuase they are fully aware you dont get to the top easily. I see them being better, but my view is that of a fan and not someone in the loop.

[dren]

It is interesting to read that Schumacher is already playing down an improvement in 2011. Does he know something that the rest of us , doesn't?

Is he playing it down? I haven't heard much either way from him reguarding the W02.

[siskue2005]

It is interesting to read that Schumacher is already playing down an improvement in 2011. Does he know something that the rest of us , doesn't?

link?

[Pierce89]

I have long belived that Ross Brawn is street-smart more than anything else, this way compensating for his lack of theoretical education. Behold his ability to be in charge of FOTA's technical arm, holding a straight face, when at the same time his team was circumventing the new diffuser-rules in the most blatant of ways?

Little wonder he also could fire 40% of the staff with a straight face by complaining that the team was broke, while both himself and small-Fry were busy filling their bank accounts with tens of million GPSs from Honda (or Mercedes).

I agree completely. The team had plenty of cash(from Honda and single race sponsors) but dumped 40% of their workforce. I just felt like Brawn was firing people to increase his profit margin, and F1 just isn't THAT kind of business I thought. Yet, now he's hailed as a hero. The hero of Merc GP is Rosberg(imagine the season without him).

[wesley123]

I have long belived that Ross Brawn is street-smart more than anything else, this way compensating for his lack of theoretical education. Behold his ability to be in charge of FOTA's technical arm, holding a straight face, when at the same time his team was circumventing the new diffuser-rules in the most blatant of ways?

Little wonder he also could fire 40% of the staff with a straight face by complaining that the team was broke, while both himself and small-Fry were busy filling their bank accounts with tens of million GPSs from Honda (or Mercedes).

I agree completely. The team had plenty of cash(from Honda and single race sponsors) but dumped 40% of their workforce. I just felt like Brawn was firing people to increase his profit margin, and F1 just isn't THAT kind of business I thought. Yet, now he's hailed as a hero. The hero of Merc GP is Rosberg(imagine the season without him).

Yes indeed, honda just should let the team go defunct leaving 500 people workless!

Seriously this is just plain rubbish, I suck at economics and even i have to know that when you go from an 350+ mil budget to a 100 mil(maximum) budget you have to cut in the costs. So they simply needed to sack some of the people. They could also keep the staff and then Mercedes GP wouldnt exist.

Brawn never could know that Mercedes would buy the team when he sacked all those people, he simply had to sack those people to let the team survive.

[aral]

Dren and Siskue. F1SA, Crash.net etc etc

I wonder how long it will be before Merc start badging their engines as Renault, or maybe Renault rebadge to Merc. The two companies are now in joint partnership with the new Merc B class. It will be powered by Renault engines.

[segedunum]

Not wanting to disagree, but the 100million was for 2009. What about all the money spent during 2008 when they abandoned the development of the 2008 car early on in the season.

That was Honda, this is Mercedes. Gestation periods in F1 mean that the W01 is nothing more than a Brawn/Honda hybrid with a Merc V8.

It's the same team...... You've painted over what was written there JET, not like that's new. The team was flush with cash in 2009, as he pointed out, and was well set with a dominant car, a stable set of regulations where they could evolve and an impending takeover. Yes, it's a car that should still be winning because the hard work had already been done.

The winning, but not totally dominant, RB5 morphed into the RB6 and continued winning. The totally dominant Brawn morphed into the W01 with a new nose and a front wing that simply doesn't work.

[ESPImperium]

Not wanting to disagree, but the 100million was for 2009. What about all the money spent during 2008 when they abandoned the development of the 2008 car early on in the season.

That was Honda, this is Mercedes. Gestation periods in F1 mean that the W01 is nothing more than a Brawn/Honda hybrid with a Merc V8.

It's the same team...... You've painted over what was written there JET, not like that's new. The team was flush with cash in 2009, as he pointed out, and was well set with a dominant car, a stable set of regulations where they could evolve and an impending takeover. Yes, it's a car that should still be winning because the hard work had already been done.

The winning, but not totally dominant, RB5 morphed into the RB6 and continued winning. The totally dominant Brawn morphed into the W01 with a new nose and a front wing that simply doesn't work.

Reason the W01 dosnt work is the CoG is too high, the cooling is compromised and the ballance of the car is poor. Not to mention the fact it is a car that has slightly compromised aero at the front, its too bulky to the RB6, whitch is sleek and refined.

The W01 is a good car, just a heavily compromised one.

The W02 in 2011 should be better.

[wesley123]

what i still cannot understand, why does the W01 require more cooling than the BGP001? The Brawn from last year had much smaller sidepods, the intakes where smaller, plus the car didnt have these extra airbox cooling intakes.

[marcush.]

What we can conclude is :Brawn was not as poor as we were made to believe,but the board members did forward concerns of a uncertain future to layoff people they thought were redundant.
Brawn spend little to no money (time)on 2010 before having sealed and dusted the takeover by Mercedes ,possibly to put the three pointed star a bit under pressure to commit.He was prepared to simply let it die after clinching the titles if they did not find an investor? so why spend money on the new car.

The W01 is as much of a shitbox as the Renault , a little worse than the Mclaren
but also a little better than the williams.So in a ways fourth to fith best car of the season of 12 so still in the first third of the field =Q3 material.
It is nowhere near the crap Honda produced in 2007 and 2008, so I do not see this all that bad ,considering the first thoughts I aired in this post.
With hindsight ,my feeling is ,Mercedes were not very good at getting the most out of the package so I tend to blame the raceteam and less the design itself tbh.Same goes for Macs inb that regard .I feel both teams made a very bad job in campaigning development parts before understanding their package and getting lost too often in thee maelstroms of setup.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Marcush

What you say is correct. In fact I would say its clearly evident.
ESP, The W02 must be better than the W01 if Mercedes will commit past 2012, people will be working for their jobs, so motivation will not be a problem....

[Morteza]

He was prepared to simply let it die after clinching the titles

That's what was gonna happen I believe. Getting both titles in the maiden year and with a team that carries his name, why would he ever wanted to continue?