Mercedes GP - Inauguration and 1st season

[hasalard]

Button's decision, Honda's situation etc... don't mean much to me.Mercedes has the power and image to find many sponsors and create championship wining cars in the hands of capable drivers.
The important story at here, is the commitment of Mercedes to F1.They made a brave decision in today's financial condition and bought Brawn GP but i am still afraid of the fact that F1 is becoming a dangerous playground for global automobile compaines.All started with Jaguar's entrance to sport.Big claims, splendid events and a huge disappointment.Then Toyota, enourmous budgets, workforce and the same result.BMW's failure is more interesting, bought an ordinary, mediocre team, invest heavily, make plans and set targets then leave in the first failure.Starting from Ford/Jaguars approach, F1 used as a marketing tool instead of being considered as a sport.
I hope Mercedes will stay commited for F1 in the long-term as except from Ferrari, they are the only one having a very strong racing culture in company DNA.

[djones]

Sorry for not keeping up to date but is the Brawn team still run by Ross Brawn or are Mercedes totally taking over?

The reason I ask is all this news that Schumacher might be going there. If Ross is still there then it gives the rumours a bit more backing to be fair.

[scarbs]

No Ross Brawn remains as team principal, they'd be mad to let him go....

[mx_tifoso]

Will their car really be named the 'RB1'?

Mercedes GP launch date leaked

If so, it'll have the same naming system as Red Bull.

[xpensive]

I doubt it, wouldn't "MS-1" be a little more appropriate anyway?

[raceman]

I doubt it, wouldn't "MS-1" be a little more apppropriate anyway?

+1

[WhiteBlue]

Mercedes are getting additional annual 20 mil € from Monster, Autonomy and Deutsche Post in sponsor income. I hope they spend some of the money for external services to augment their 2010 and 2011 resources. They are already down to 350 team members as the other teams only have to show from the next season. The W01 will probably not profit as much as the W02 will.

[aral]

I would disagree Marcush,

If you gave Red Bull a carbon copy of the W01, with its inherent flaws we have discussed, such as Tyre management, degredation and not forgetting its weight issues which Mercedes may or may not have solved. Then I would say Red Bull would struggle as equally as Mercedes have done because there is only a finite amount of changes that can be made(homologation rules).

I have already stated my belief that the W01 is not a bad car. Had it been dialled in to use this years tyre specs correctly the design would be competitive to say the least. Perhaps not Red Bull fast but a damn site closer for sure.

The problem is a very complex one, as Mercedes has flaw that was set in at a very early stage of development. To get the high percentiles and tolerances you need to push everything to its limit, and if you get it wrong you will need to reverse engineer a component after laborious analysis, find what is wrong and hope your solution works.

Mercedes knew what the problem was way back in February winter testing, yet they are still suffering from the same issues.
They are having to load the car with more and more downforce to correct the issue, as is witnessed by their slow straightline speed(Slowest of all Mercedes powered cars anyway). This is also inspite of them having their slippery airbox solution, the most effiecient of all to the naked eye.
The reason is because the flaw is "dialled" in to the chassis IMO and has no means of correction under the homologation rules.

Its also a very good explanation as to why Mercedes cannot tell if its updates are working. Maybe they can find a magic bullet in the next month or so, but I doubt it.
I will say whoever got the tyre predictions wrong should get a serious earbashing!

I would disagree, Johnsons Evil Twin. If you gave the W01 tub to RBR, they would have it running competitively by now. Don't forget, the tub cannot be changed, but most other bits and pieces can be moved around, affecting tyrewear, aero etc. etc. The problem is in the structure of Mercedes GP. The left hand does not know what the right hand is doing, particularly at top level. Put ONE person in control, and things would get better!

[marcush.]

I wonder if there is a sudden raise in demand for phone calls from Brackley to Phuket at his time .....

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Its pure speculation,

And how do you know that Mercedes doesnt know its left from its right?
Just like to know how you know.
I wonder how Red Bull would be operating after it had got rid of 1/3 its staff,no official backer for 10months. With a budget deficit, Newey would not be working for free and would not doubt be off to pastures new.

So lets look at the situation once more. Would Red Bull do better under the circumstances? Again I say no.

Wait for Mercedes influence to take effect, it will be more than just badge engineering. We are talking culture change to an extent, which is why the Brawn-Mercedes marriage was so mutually benefial.
Mercedes will not be spending vast sums as in the past, but neither will they be shy to spend some of the 250 million Mclaren owe them.
I personally feel this year is a "teething" year, we will see the fruits next year.

[tarzoon]

Do you think Brawn already decided to switch focus to develop next year's car?

[marcush.]

I´m not sure if Mercedes had the plan to step in with manpower or strategies originally ,but of course the situation is looking quite uncomfortable for ross now that all announcements have not fruited in a destinct raise of competitiveness .
Bu lets not forget ,Norbert has not the habit to step sideways when the wind blows into his face and i do not feel he will this time.
So thankfully not too much input from stuttgart and Brawn will regroup and hire the missing links now that it is obvious they lack some expertise compared to RedBull and Macs.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Marcush you forget...

Next year ALL teams will operate under the resource restriction. I believe Mercedes are now at around 420 staff, 20 staff above the mandatory figure next year.
Red Bull and Mclaren will have to axe around 150/200 staff each to reach this figure.
Thats when you will see the pain really hitting home.

What Ferrari are going to do with axing 400 jobs is another matter as they currently stand at over 800 staff.

Maybe we will not see the effects of this until midway through next year, as teams can use all their current resources up to 31 december I believe.

And you can bet your bottom dollar Mercedes and Brawn are keeping tabs on what is going on with regard to RB and Mclaren staff.

To surmise, Mercedes really arent doing so badly if you look at the the conditions they are opertaing under.
Tight budget
Inherrent issue with the car
Staff comings and goings
added pressure of Mercedes and Schumachers return

Wait till 2011, I reckon Schumacher is too, he knows the score....

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Do you think Brawn already decided to switch focus to develop next year's car?

Not until tyre specs are cast in Iron by Pirelli. Mercedes do not want another repeat of this years tyre woes.

[aral]

Its pure speculation,


So lets look at the situation once more. Would Red Bull do better under the circumstances? Again I say no.

.

And, pray tell me , how do YOU know? You speculate quite a lot, but please allow others to have their opinions, before you criticise them!

I gather that you are not British, but the expression about left and right hand , is a known expression used when things are not gelling, and it appears in this case, that there is no cohesive effort at Merc, to really improve the car. They are trying to sort out wheelbase, f-duct, exhaust diffuser,etc. all at one time, but they have to be taken as an entity, not as individual parts.