Mercedes GP MGP W01

[WhiteBlue]

Will MGP be challenging for wins from the first race?

"Maybe not. I can't make judgements about the other teams at the moment, but I do know that we're not in the position we want to be - to be challenging for wins straight away. We are working hard and the season is long. The main aim at the moment is not to be too far off.

"We are working very well together, it has taken very little time to get on with everybody. They are very good guys, it's very professional and a good atmosphere. But we have to prove ourselves on the track. Testing is one thing, racing is another."

I think they will have problems in qualifying to be immediately quick. Only one of his short runs had a competitive time and that was 1 s off.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

I dont think anyone expected Mercedes to start winning immediately.
I admit I hoped they would, but more in hope than expectation.
Not when the like of Ferrari start developing there car midway through 09.

What I do expect however is Mercedes to show consistent improvements from race to race until it can be deemeda challenger.
The big thing for Rosberg Schumacher and Mercedes, will be to consolidate their position and get as many points as possible for the first 3 fly away races of the season.
Then once we reach europe Mercedes can implement whatever design it is that Brawn deems necessary to get the car closer to the grid.

I think this year is more than just having the fastest car. Especially 1 lap pace, I dont think its as important a factor as before.
My point is if a car is 0.5 to 1 second a lap quicker but it chews its tyres up within the first 10 laps, the slower car that is gentler on its tyres would then be in the pound seats.

Its all speculative of course, as the faster car could also be the easiest on its tyres. If this is the case we are in for a LOOOOOONG season

[outer_bongolia]

Will MGP be challenging for wins from the first race?

I think they will have problems in qualifying to be immediately quick. Only one of his short runs had a competitive time and that was 1 s off.

Remember, 1s is without the new diffuser and front wing. I don't expect much in Bahrain- the car will be virtually brand new with the new aero parts - but by the time they are in Malaysia or China, they could be one of the top 4 teams with McLaren, RBR, and Ferrari. Of course we have to wait and see what Williams' real deal is.

[f1rules]

new pic on wri2.net were the merc is covered in flow vis

[marcush.]

honestly speaking they are sandbagging in my view they have a very good speed on the longruns ,they play down their cards to avoid what happened to them last year as
Mclaren put in a hercules job to climb back to the front as did RB with their abandonning their difusser concept in favour of the DD.In effect all teams straight pulled out their DD concepts as soon as they saw the brawn,right? For this alone ,it is the smart move to not show the true potential.
They do not look hopeless with the old wings and floor ,do they? so it is entirly possible to stuck on the new pieces in Bahrain and confident to find the correct setup quickly enough as no rain is forecast there anyways..

[Fil]

honestly speaking they are sandbagging in my view..

you know, i'm suspecting the same.
the one quote that keeps popping up in my memory is Ross Brawn admitting that the team stopped development mid-2009 once they realised they had enough speed to get through the season.. deciding to keep their developmental ideas for 2010.

Aside from a new nose.. they haven't shown much yet. i very much doubt that is all they came up with over the past 9mths.

[marcush.]

honestly speaking they are sandbagging in my view..

you know, i'm suspecting the same.
the one quote that keeps popping up in my memory is Ross Brawn admitting that the team stopped development mid-2009 once they realised they had enough speed to get through the season.. deciding to keep their developmental ideas for 2010.

Aside from a new nose.. they haven't shown much yet. i very much doubt that is all they came up with over the past 9mths.

+1

Button always bragged about seconds of potential waiting in the drawers at brawn,din´t he ? and till very late I´m sure he was almost considered to be safe in brawn so he must know quite a bit what they were working on. Not that he could know the real story but sure the directions and reasons behind these dvelopments .surely enough for Macs to make up their own mind about it.

And we see a lot of things going on at Mclaren trying a lot of new concepts....maybe they try to figure out what button has brought to them in terms of has any value???

[WhiteBlue]

Brawn is a very good tactitian. So it is entirely possible that they are simply holding back and will make a bigger step than the competition in Bahrain.

Schumacher put a lot of emphasis yesterday on enginering procedures and communications for race weekends. So they have probably run all types of debriefing after simulated sessions. That explains why they did comparatively little laps.

[marcush.]

Brawn is a very good tactitian. So it is entirely possible that they are simply holding back and will make a bigger step than the competition in Bahrain.

Schumacher put a lot of emphasis yesterday on enginering procedures and communications for race weekends. So they have probably run all types of debriefing after simulated sessions. That explains why they did comparatively little laps.

these guys are those who were undoubtedly the ones who bagged the most Titles all time together .I see no reason why they should not be able to transfer this to the third team .and it worked for them in both ways:Schumacher came into Benetton when Brawn was already there ,It worked when Schumacher was in Ferrari and Brawn was brought in.Now again we are into the first mode..but with all those titles under the belt.They sure must feel confident those two.

[Fil]

Just to back up what i was saying, i went for a hunt for the article..

"..by the time of the Turkish Grand Prix in early June, Brawn took a gamble.
He believed the car had enough in hand to win the championship, so told his design engineers to switch their attentions to the 2010 car."

that's an incredibly long lead-time for a previous season's championship contender/winner!

[marcush.]

and not to show more than they have to at this time...they decided deliberately to keep the interfaces in terms of front and rear wing attachment ,now it is everyones guess what we will see in bahrain..with the level of detailing on the rest of the car, the 2009 start of season front wing does one year on look almost outdated ,back then it was jaw dropping at least to me...time is moving on quite quickly in F1....

[marcush.]

Interview with schumacher ....the words tell it all ...they are indeed sandbagging and not going to show their otright pace... he confirms that he has not yet done a close to 100% attempt...
Asked if the car as it is at the moment was capable of winning in bahrain the answer is not no ,but: possibly not.and adding . we have not finished yet with our preparations ,not in the sense we will not be top ,he just acknoledges the possibility that others may find a bigger step than Merc is going to have.Very wise.

http://www.motorsport-total.com/f1/news ... 22627.html

and also here:

http://www.motorsport-total.com/f1/news ... 22709.html

stating his impressions of not being on the same level as some other teams was based on spontanous impression not based on facts ,after analysing the times of the recent tests he is more relaxed as the analises showed no dramatic performance deficits for Mercedes ,so he is confident of being at or near the top pace.
As a special gift he lays a rose towards the door of Ferrari claiming they are looking to be the team at this time..german charme...

[rich1701]

Brawn is a very good tactitian. So it is entirely possible that they are simply holding back and will make a bigger step than the competition in Bahrain.

Schumacher put a lot of emphasis yesterday on enginering procedures and communications for race weekends. So they have probably run all types of debriefing after simulated sessions. That explains why they did comparatively little laps.

these guys are those who were undoubtedly the ones who bagged the most Titles all time together .I see no reason why they should not be able to transfer this to the third team .and it worked for them in both ways:Schumacher came into Benetton when Brawn was already there ,It worked when Schumacher was in Ferrari and Brawn was brought in.Now again we are into the first mode..but with all those titles under the belt.They sure must feel confident those two.

I was always impressed that they could not only compete with but also beat a Newey designed car in the 1990s which typically aerodynamically at least was a second a lap faster than their car most of the time.

I don't think anybody has more experience fighting against the odds and making the best of their package than they do.

[marcush.]

anyone who does not have them on their cards is a fool.
and sure enough .The odds do not reflect what is going on in terms of how the forces are going to be distributed when the flag drops.

[BreezyRacer]

Blah blah blah to the Schumacher statements. It's just fanboy crap. Where's any new stuff? Well behind, that's where ..

Edited for clarification