So throughout testing we saw nothing extravagant from the German outfit, the MGP-W02 ran well in terms of reliability and well in terms of outright pace. This can be explained as it had the use of the out-lawed exhaust blown diffuser (EBD), which was said to be of great benefit to RedBull and Renault (LOTUS) throughout 2011. In the aim of "collecting precious tyre data", Mercedes decided to delay the Mercedes F1 W03 release until the final rest in Catalunya Barcelona, there was great anticipation leading up to the release. A shakedown test was carried out in Silverstone, here the platter-pus nose of the car was revealed using amateur footage. In Catalunya nothing special was shown/portrayed by the team. Times and opinions from the team members and drivers were suppressed throughout, and the only exciting moments that came about were a couple of off's into the gravel by Michael Schumacher. Australia arrived, the start of the season. A 43 year old Michael Schumacher and his younger teammate Nico Rosberg hit the ground running, practice sessions both in on Friday and Saturday looked promising for the team, Schumacher had earlier span off into the gravel at one point. [video=youtube;c5gjPrb43LA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5gjPrb43LA&feature=results_video&playnext =1&list=PL53D292D2A0631181[/video] As you can see, an ongoing attempt was made by Michael to prevent any camera shots being taken of the underside of his wing prompting the public that there was something major to hide in terms of aero parts on the car. The DRS debate arose, (in more detail) a new concept designed by Mercedes over the long winter was to be of great assistance during qualifying, controlled by the driver and the hole behind the DRS flap. These holes (on both sides of the rear wing) connect up through channels through the car to slot gaps on the underside of the front wing - and when the DRS opens, the low-pressure air under the front wing sucks air through the car from the rear wing, reducing the effectiveness of the front wing, increasing top speed through the straights. As the rear and front wing have had the down-force equally reduced, the car is still realistically in balance. However reducing downforce of the car through aero/DRS, may have forced them to manipulate camber/roll-bar setups in order to make up for the downforce deficit in the first place... leading onto tyre wear issues..? Who knows. Anyway, Michael qualified 4th on Saturday and Nico Rosberg 7th, an unexpected mistake from the recently regarded faultless German -relative to his teamate, cost him a front or second row grid slot. However the race got underway, Michael pushed himself into 3rd, and Nico made up for his mistake the day earlier and placed himself 4th. Things were about to change though. Michael was due for a one on one battle with the present double world champion, until a gear box failure decided his race at turn 1, Michael pulled off the track completely (In order not to hinder Sebastian's race?). View attachment 12010 Nico slowly jutted further backwards into the hands of the mid-field teams, after being overtaken by Vettel beforehand. Tyre wear issues became apparent soon as he pitted earlier than expected by the F1 world. Things were not right. Later into the race, Nico battled with the mid-field cutting corners in order to maintain position- and then colliding with a mid-field driver causing a puncture and his hopes for some healthy points to flow straight into the drain, pressure - unbelievable pace from the Mercedes seemed to have made the German, who has extended his contract recently, to drive into many errors in the opening weekend. Malaysia arrived, a track known for it's in-hospitality to drivers, heat-sweat-exhaustion all areas in which drivers are affected, heat mainly pointed out earlier to be a hinderence to Mercedes again here, Mercedes denied this as a major issue "lessons had been learnt", but it seems a combination of other factors decided their weekend again. Michael impressed his critics and qualified 3rd behind the Mclaren lockout after a single timed run the last time, this was last achieved 6 years ago, Nico finished 8th. Another mistake by the German - a lockup had caused him to line up here on Sunday. View attachment 12012 The race was worse for both drivers, a mistake by Frenchman Romain Grosjean - tagging the no 7 car and spinning himself out decided both drivers races - Grosjean pulling two DNF's out of the bag in two races. Michael turned the car around and carried on to finish 10th, a mere representation of the Qualifying pace shown 24 hours earlier. An ailing Nico and his strategy pushed himself out of the points after running well in the top 10. A Conclusion. Mercedes have been successful in developing a Saturday car, and have failed to produce a race winner, and a polished Michael seems to have the better of Nico early into the start of this season. A dry race in China may be a better representation of the teams development on tyre wear and both driver performances, many long straights may bring Michael his 69th pole position, or Nico's first. Finally too many rookie racing drivers in top teams can be a mistake, where others think it is an advantage. Thanks for reading.
If China is dry I think Schumacher will qualify in the top 3 and finish in the top 5. Clearly their rear wing is giving them a big boost in qualifying, but their car is not a dog. It looked fantastic on Friday.
Rosberg has gone really well in China the last two year, almost winning both of them. So I think he can kick start his season there.
Schumacher certainly seems to have had a qualifying revival, and I've been impressed with him so far. It's a bit early to be talking about justifying his contract for this year, but so far so good. His poor start in Malaysia I'm going to call a blip, as he's been excellent in that area ever since he came back. In China, with his usual starts I could see him third by the end of the first lap, but I think the early race pace of the Mclarens will be too much for the mercedes in race trim. From there though, I can only see him going backwards. The Red Bull seems to have better race pace, and it wouldn't surprise me if the Saubers, Williams, etc, could be mixing with him and Rosberg as the race goes on.
It's all about the tyres. If they can figure out how to protect them better, then the car may be able to win races. Unless the car is a potential race winner already, and is being let down by poor driving.
The big worry for Mercedes has to just be how much they take out of those tyres! Also, admittedly their races have been disrupted (seems that 3rd on the grid is a bad place to be when it comes to staying on the road) but the fact is with their DRS system you'd have thought they'd have qualifying pretty much sown up. One other issue for Mercedes seems to be that their rivals are quicker off the grid. Mclaren pulled clean away from Schumacher on Sunday, and Grosjean leapt straight up there. I think at the moment they haven't got the balance between downforce and straight-line speed.
I think Mercedes need to stop trying to grab pole and focus on a 100% race set up, this should help until they come up with big developments for the Mugello Test before the European season.
yeah, i said something similar the other day, it seems to me that since Schumacher arrived the team has gone backwards every year, and I can't help feeling that the more they design the car around Schumacher the worse they'll get, from champs to podiums to also rans to the midfield, I didn't see much improvement last year, and this year the only reason they look partially good is in qualifying and that's because of their probably soon to be copied front wing staller. what would happen to them if Sauber, RBR, Williams, STR and Force India copy it?
In my opinion, the car has the potential locked in it, there are two keys to unlock it on a race weekend, one has been found... the other is still hidden. Both drivers are exceptional, there is no blame to be pointed on them at the moment, Nico seeming a little lackluster compared to a more determined Michael in 2012. But as I mentioned China could be a real turnaround if they sort out the tyre wear, remember Monza last year?
Its car has a package bulit around this super DRS which is only really affective in quali. So unless they figure out why they are having big amounts of tyre wear I don't see them challenging the podium.
It's especially worrying since they seem to be running an exceptionally straight-line speed (i.e. slipperiness)-based car, yet are still chewing up their tyres. Honestly do wonder if the DRS allowing them to run more downforce is both a blessing and a curse.
