Fixed! I don't want to be pessimistic myself, Lewis was driving a crock of **** for the first half of 2009 and I'm interested to see what he can do this this latest crock (whatever a crock is).
Hmmm I doubt it will be as bad as the 09 McLaren, probably in qualifying at Australia: Seb Button Webber Alonso Perez Massa Hulk Kimi ROME Maldonado ----------------------------------- Bottas Di Resta Esteban Lewis 14th Rosberg 15th Bianchi ..........................ok maybe as bad as the McLaren 2009... It really depends if they have a better car than the FI and Williams, except Williams delayed so they must have something special and the FI was strong enough to fight for podiums at the end but lack of money would of slowed down development over the 3-4 months
Wow, that's a harsh prediction Silver. I think they will still be driving around the late end of the top 10.
Of course, it's just the grid is so strong now since both Williams and Force India were in the end stronger than the Mercedes. The W04 is an actual "no step" rather than a step forward as the DDRS is gone, they have to start from scratch like IRBR had to do with the RB8. They also don't have the work rate IRBR has at the moment let alone Lotus or Sauber so the process will likely be slow at the start. They will eventually catch up and make some good strides towards the end I hope, but the start will be really hard work in my opinion. Take IRBR towards the end of 2011, easy year of sorts since the WDC and WCC were wrapped up early, they knew the regulations were going to change but it still took them almost half a season to get back where they used to be in 2012 with the resources they had. Since most of the teams didn't bother with DDRS you have to believe they have the early advantage of the evolutionary process of their car ahead of time, unlike Mercedes who have to start from the beginning again with new personnel coming in as well.
I don't think the Merc is going to be as horrifically awful as i'd hope, i reckon (as someone else said) tail end of the top 10 would be a realistic aim for Melbourne, and then work their way backwards like lasts eason Hopefully by the time the British GP comes, Marussia and Caterham would have overtaken Mercedes....
It seems odd to me that GreyArrows-Benz have apparently worked really hard on cooling, whilst having smaller sidepods, whilst Sauber seem to have dramatically smaller sidepods, but appear to think they've solved the cooling issues with clever packaging.
Hamilton to be lapped by Button as Button sails towards a win in the British GP, to take him 50 points clear in the championship...
It wasn't the Moderators mocking me.....IT WAS GOD!!!! [video=youtube;pqaARDsiJv4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqaARDsiJv4[/video]
Mercedes were really bad in the second half of last year but they still got into Q3 on several occasions so I dont see why they should be in a worse position this year: Belgium: McLaren, Sauber, Williams, Lotus, Ferrari, Red Bull, Force India, Mercedes (P13) (8th fastest) Italy: McLaren, Ferrari, Force India, Mercedes (P5) (4th fastest) Singapore: McLaren, Williams, Red Bull, Ferrari, Force India, Lotus, Mercedes (P9) (7th fastest) Japan: Red Bull, McLaren, Sauber, Lotus, Ferrari, Force India, Mercedes (P13) (7th fastest) Korea: Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, Force India, Mercedes (P9) (6th fastest) India: Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, Sauber, Williams, Mercedes (P10) (7th fastest) UAE: Mclaren, Red Bull, Williams, Lotus, Ferrari, Mercedes (P8) 6th fastest) USA: Red Bull, McLaren, Lotus, Mercedes (P6) (4th fastest) Brazil: McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari, Williams, Force India, Lotus, Mercedes (P10(7th fastest) In those final 9 races, Red Bull and McLaren were always faster, Ferrari and Lotus were faster eight times out of nine, Force India six out of nine, Williams five out of nine and Sauber three out of nine. Moving forward to 2013, as all teams (excluding Williams) have evolved their previous cars, it doesn't look as bad as what Silver thinks, but scoring a podium would seem like a miracle result. BUT... now they have Hamilton..... How much extra laptime can Hamilton extract compared to Rosberg and Schumacher? If you assume he brings half a second extra for example, Mercedes's late 2012 form in qualifying would have been: Belgium: P10 (7th fastest) Italy: P2 (2nd fastest) Singapore: P7 (6th fastest) Japan: P6 (5th fastest - probably worse without yellow flags) Korea: P6 (5th fastest) India: P3 (2nd fastest) UAE: P4 (3rd fastest) USA: P4 (3rd fastest) Brazil: P6 (4th fastest) Still not brilliant, but considering their competition if Hamilton can finish most races in the top six, I would call that progress.
If they start out bad, I just can't see them getting better through the season. They're not exactly renown for their in-season development... I could be wrong, but I'd say they need to come out strong early, otherwise they'll likely ditch development early in favor of 2014. Hoping Hamilton has a bloomin' good performance clause in that contract. Really hope my lack of faith in Mercedes is totally wrong though.
In my mind, I believe that Hamilton's move to Mercedes holds so much hope from their fans that it is too good to be a failure, it's just unrealistic. But I will be damn well surprised if it turns out to be a mess.
Nico Rosberg's testing time has been cut short as Mercedes confirm there will be no further running from them today. Rosberg, if you remember, came to a halt earlier in the morning with smoke emanating from the rear of his car. "After identifying the cause of the problem, we will not be running again today whilst parts are modified ready for tomorrow," Mercedes tweeted. "The part which requires modification is the wiring loom where the electrical fault originated this morning." I hope this is is not indicative of the season to come.
